On August 20, 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York charging Jesse R. Mitchell, a resident of Ventura, California and the former Senior Director of Financial Planning and Analysis at The Trade Desk, Inc. (“TTD”), with insider trading. The SEC accuses Mitchell of leveraging his role on TTD’s financial planning team—which gave him early access to the company’s quarterly earnings—to execute two rounds of illegal trades resulting in collective profits of more than $338,000.
According to the SEC’s complaint, the first round of illegal trades was made in advance of TTD’s positive second quarter 2024 earnings release. Mitchell allegedly purchased 3,850 shares of TTD common stock while in possession of this material nonpublic information during a company-imposed trading blackout period. He allegedly sold the shares the day after the announcement for a profit of nearly $20,000. The second instance involved trades that were placed ahead of TTD’s fourth quarter 2024 earnings release, which included the company’s first-ever revenue guidance miss and precipitated a stock price drop of more than 30 percent. According to the SEC, Mitchell purchased out-of-the-money put options, again during a blackout period and in violation of TTD’s permanent ban on employee options trading and sold those options the following day for a profit of over $318,000. In its complaint, the SEC accuses Mitchell of violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The Commission is seeking a permanent injunction, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and an officer-and-director bar against Mitchell.
In a parallel criminal action announced the same day, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced that Mitchell was arrested for his illegal trades. Federal prosecutors also unsealed an indictment charging him with two counts of securities fraud: one count under Title 15, and one count under Title 18.
SEC Press Release | SEC Complaint | USAO SDNY Press Release |Unsealed Indictment