A Long Island dad of a Wall Street investment banker escaped jail time on Wednesday for his involvement in a four-year, $1 million insider trading scheme with his son.
Robert Stewart was sentenced to four years of probation, with the first year under house arrest, and to forfeit $150,000 in ill-gotten gains, according to Manhattan US attorney Preet Bharara’s office.
The father and son team used golf-related terms to try to disguise their plan to profit off upcoming health care company mergers, according to prosecutors.
“Might have an opportunity to play golf but would need to book the reservation as soon as the office opens Tuesday morning,” Robert Stewart said in one e-mail, according to the initial complaint.
Robert Stewart, 65, pleaded guilty in August to one count of securities fraud, for trading on the health care merger tips from his son, Sean Stewart, for about four years through last May.
“Robert Stewart received nonpublic mergers and acquisitions information from his investment banker son, and then used this illegal edge to earn substantial trading profits,” Bharara said in a statement.
Sean, 34, started the scheme in 2011, when he was an investment banker in the health care unit at JPMorgan Chase, and continued it when he moved to Perella Weinberg Partners, according to the Justice Department.
During that time, he had access to private information about upcoming deals.
The criminal charges, which were first filed last May, were notable for the lengths that Bharara’s office went to show that the son also received a personal benefit, since his father used some of his ill-gotten gains to pay for his son’s wedding photographer.
Sean Stewart’s trial to fight the charges against him is slated for the end of July in Manhattan federal court.
Martin Cohen, a lawyer for the Stewarts, declined to comment.