Cambridge Biotech Employees Convicted Of Insider Trading

CAMBRIDGE, MA — Two employees of Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical companies were convicted Wednesday by a federal jury of engaging in an insider trading scheme.

From August 2013 to September 2015, the two friends, conspired to commit securities fraud by trading insider information regarding successful clinical drug trials at their respective companies.

Schultz “Jason” Chan, 54, of Newton, the director of Biostatistics at a Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical company called Akebia Therapeutics was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and three counts of securities fraud.

Songjiang Wang, 54, of Westford, the director of statistical programming at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two count of securities fraud.

Specifically, Wang traded on inside information Chan provided regarding a clinical study conducted by Chan’s employer. Throughout a period of several months, Wang tipped Chan of clinical trial results of a Phase 3 clinical trial being conducted by his employer.

Wang gave Chan cash, which Chan used to purchase stock shares of Wang’s employer. Chan subsequently sold those shares and paid back Wang.

The two face up to 20 years in prison with three years of supervised release and a fine of $5 million for the charge of securities fraud. They could face an additional five years in prison, three years on supervised release and another fine of up to $250,000 at their sentencing.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani scheduled Chan’s and Wang’s sentencings for Oct. 4 and 5, 2018, respectively.

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Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch Staff