Crime & Safety
Fremont Man Charged With Insider Trading: Justice Dept.
If convicted of the federal charges, he faces up to 45 years in prison.
FREMONT, CA — A Fremont man has been indicted on federal charges for insider trading, the Northern District of California Department of Justice announced on Monday.
Dileep Kumar Reddy Kamujula, 35, is charged with securities fraud in connection with alleged illegal securities trading based on inside information obtained from an employee of the San Francisco-based cloud communications company Twilio, US attorney Stephanie M. Hinds and FBI special agent Timothy M. Stone said.
Hinds alleges that Kamujula "schemed" to "profit on the confidential information of a ... public company to gain an illegal edge in the stock market" in the spring of 2020.
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According to the indictment, Kamujula is suspected of illegally trading in Twilio stock options after getting nonpublic information from an employee identified as "Insider One." This person allegedly passed on confidential financial information to Kamujula.
Specifically, Kamujula is accused of buying approximately 257 call options for a total of $133,333 between April 9 and May 6 of 2020.
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On May 6, Twilio released its quarterly earnings and reported earnings of .06 per share, a profit that exceeded the Wall Street analyst consensus estimate of earnings, according to the DOJ. Twilio's stock prices rose 40 percent the next day. Kamujula is suspected of selling all of the stock he had acquired in those four weeks for a profit of $961,662.
Kamujula is charged with two counts of violating the Securities and Exchange Act and a forfeiture allegation, the DOJ said. He is facing a maximum term in prison of 45 years and more than $5 million in possible fines.
Kamujula faced a judge on Monday and was released on bond. His next court appearance will be on April 22. He also faces a separate civil case along with six others filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading related to Twilio securities trading.
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