David X. Sullivan, the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and P.J. O’Brien, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have announced that Ryan Squillante has pleaded guilty to an insider trading offense. Squillante, 40, from Weston, waived his right to be indicted and entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Vernon D. Oliver in Hartford.
Court documents reveal that Squillante was employed as the Head of Equity Trading at Irving Investors, a Denver-based investment company. In this role, he received material non-public information (MNPI) about various publicly traded companies. Between August 2022 and May 2023, Squillante used this MNPI on 15 occasions to execute securities transactions for personal gain, earning a total profit of $220,912.
One specific instance involved Praxis Precision Medicines, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company listed on NASDAQ. In February 2023, after receiving MNPI about Praxis, Squillante “sold short” 38,086 shares at an average price of approximately $3.04 per share between February 27 and March 2. On March 3, prior to market opening, Praxis announced unfavorable drug trial results which did not meet its primary endpoint with statistical significance. Following this announcement, Squillante “covered” his short sale by purchasing the same number of shares at an average price of approximately $1.82 per share, resulting in a profit of around $46,421.
Squillante’s guilty plea pertains to securities fraud which could lead to a maximum imprisonment term of 20 years. Sentencing is set for August 29 by Judge Oliver.
The investigation into this matter is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather L. Cherry.
