The Securities and Exchange Commission announced, on January 6, 2025, that it obtained final judgments against Amit Dagar and his close friend and business partner Atul Bhiwapurkar to resolve insider trading charges filed in 2023. The two consented to the entry of final judgments after Dagar was convicted by a federal jury and Bhiwapurkar pleaded guilty to parallel criminal charges filed by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.
According to the SEC’s complaint filed in June 2023, Dagar, who formerly worked as a statistician at a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company, learned of a successful clinical trial for Paxlovid, an antiviral treatment for COVID-19, in the midst of the global pandemic in 2021. According to the SEC, Dagar purchased securities based on this material nonpublic information and then shared the MNPI with his friend Bhiwapurkar who also purchased securities before the results were publicly announced. Following the announcement of the successful trial, stock prices rose by nearly 11 percent enabling Dagar and Bhiwapurkar to generate $214,395 and $60,300, respectively, in unlawful profits.
The SEC reports that the final judgments permanently enjoin Dagar and Bhiwapurkar from violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The court also determined that Dagar was liable for disgorgement of $214,395 with $41,908 prejudgment interest – amounts deemed satisfied by the order of forfeiture in his parallel criminal case. In Bhiwapurkar’s final judgment, the court found that he was liable for disgorgement of $60,300, which was deemed satisfied by the order in his parallel criminal case. Bhiwapurkar was additionally ordered to pay a $60,300 civil penalty.
SEC Press Release | Final Judgment – Dagar | Final Judgment – Bhiwapurkar