On February 22, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Pennsylvania resident John-Michael Havrilla with insider trading for purchasing PAVmed Inc. securities in advance of the company’s positive earnings announcement in April of 2020. According to the SEC Complaint, Havrilla was the Director of Investor Relations for PAVmed, a medical device company based in New York, when he received a draft of PAVmed’s earning results for the company’s last quarter and full year of 2019 that prompted the purchase PAVmed stock. While in possession of this material nonpublic information, Havrilla allegedly purchased 227,500 shares of PAVmed stock in violation of PAVmed’s Insider Trading Policy. The SEC accused Havrilla of making $80,115 in illicit profits when the stock value rose by 13.6 percent following the April 9, 2020 release of PAVmed’s quarterly and annual earnings results.
The SEC charged Havrilla with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. However, without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, Havrilla agreed to the entry of a final judgment in order to settle the charges against him. The proposed judgment permanently enjoins Havrilla from further violations of the Exchange Act, bans him from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years, and imposes $160,230 in civil penalties, subject to the court’s approval.