Clarendon Hills Man Indicted For Insider Trading: U.S. Attorney's Office

CLARENDON HILLS, IL — A Clarendon Hills man has been indicted with eight others on charges of fraud for using inside information to earn illegal trading profits. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office Northern District of Illinois, Alex Carlucci, 51, of Clarendon Hills, has been charged with securities fraud for insider trading of Life Time Fitness stocks.

With Carlucci, nine defendants, including four Chicago-area men, have been indicted. Shane Fleming, 54, of Minnesota; Bret Beshey, 44, from Mexico; Chasity Clark, 34, from Mexico; Peter Kourtis, 51, of Niles; Christopher Bonvissuto, 41, of New York; Eric Weller, 52, of California; Austin Mansur, 46, of Chicago; and Dimitri Kandalepas, 28, of Schaumburg; have been charged.

The indictment charges all nine defendants with conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Each of the defendants faces also individual counts of securities fraud. Fleming and Beshey are each charged with nine counts; Kourtis eight; Weller three; Mansur two; and one each for Clark, Bonvissuto, Carlucci and Kandalepas.

According to the Attorney's Office, Fleming was vice president of corporate sales at Life Time Fitness, Inc. He obtained non-public information on Feb. 23, 2015, about the potential sale of the company to two private equity firms. Fleming learned that the sale would likely cause an increase in the company’s stock price, and he shared the inside information with Beshey, a longtime friend and business partner, the indictment states. Beshey and Fleming agreed to use the information to execute financial trades, and further agreed to share the profits, according to the indictment. Beshey then allegedly shared the information with his girlfriend Clark, her friend Bonvissuto and Behsey's business partner Kourtis.

Kourtis and Bonvissuto agreed to use the information to purchase Life Time Fitness stock options and share the profits with Beshey and Clark, the indictment states. Kourtis then shared the information with friends Weller, Mansur, Carlucci and Kandalepas. All of them knew the information came from an insider at Life Time Fitness, and agreed to use the information to make trades, according to the release.

As conspirators became aware of the inside information, they made arrangements to execute securities transactions and pay a portion of the proceeds to the fellow conspirator who passed them the tip, the indictment states.

The securities purchases were made before news of the potential sale became public; and the stock price increased substantially after the news of the sale broke, according to the indictment. The defendants earned approximately $866,629 in illegal profits from the trades.

“Our economy relies on the integrity of the markets, which is a core principle upon which the American financial system is built,” Joel Levin, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in a release. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to aggressively using federal securities laws to hold insiders and investors accountable for using market-moving information to line their own pockets.”

From Feb. 25, 2015, to March 3, 2015, the defendants purchased hundreds of call options in Life Time Fitness stock, according to the indictment. On March 5, 2015, the company’s share price was $57.67. After markets closed for the day, the Wall Street Journal published an article about the acquisition discussions. On March 6, 2015, the share price increased to a high of $69.13. On March 16, 2015, Life Time Fitness issued a news release announcing that two private equity firms were purchasing all of the company’s shares for $72.10 per share, according to the attorney's office.

The conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Each count of securities fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

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