A US analyst is facing insider trading charges after he allegedly passed on information from storage Company SanDisk relating to Apple iPhone patterns.Consultant John Kinnucan was accused of two counts, each of securities fraud and conspiracy for reportedly passing on secret information about F5, Flextronics, and SanDisk to hedge funds that in turn unfairly benefited from the information.
Reuters claims that expensive meals and travel bribes were used to solicit information.
Don Barnetson, formerly of SanDisk, had admitted taking information between 2008 and 2010 from Kinnucan in return for leniency from prosecutors.
Among those who received insider info from Kinnucan was believed to be former Carlson Capital staffer Dan Grossman, who had previously worked at Level Global. This last firm itself had faced insider trading arrests and was shut down as a result.
If convicted, Kinnucan could face sentences of up to 20 years each for three of the charges, and a maximum of five years for one of the conspiracy charges.
