SEATTLE (AP) — A mental health counselor in Seattle has agreed to settle charges that he used insider information disclosed by a patient who worked at the online retailer Zulily to make profitable stock trades.
The Securities and Exchange Commission says in documents filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday that 43-year-old Kenneth Peer began treating the patient in 2014. The following year, the patient disclosed that Zulily was about to be acquired by Liberty Interactive.
The SEC says that over the next few weeks, Peer sold his other stock holdings and bought $28,000 worth of Zulily shares. Then, in August 2015, when the stock soared on the announcement of the acquisition, Peer sold those shares for a profit of more than $10,200.
Peer agreed to give up the $10,227 and to pay an additional fine of the same amount.
He did not immediately return an email seeking comment.