Hedge

According to federal prosecutors, two hedge fund managers--Sanjay Valvani and Christopher Plaford-- conspired with a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official--George Johnston, who had access to insider information on the fate of generic drug candidates--to profit by committing securities fraud. While employed as Visium Asset Management hedge fund managers, Valvani and Plaford executed stock trades based on insider information from Johnston about generic drug applications, said the prosecution. Prosecutors also allege Plaford and Stefan Lumiere conspired to inflate the value of a fixed-income fund they were managing for Visium. “As alleged, Valvani, Johnston, and Plaford conspired to extract highly confidential and tightly guarded information about pending applications for general drug approvals from the FDA, and traded on such information, reaping millions of dollars in illegal profits," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. "Lumiere and Plaford also allegedly conspired to mismark securities held by their fund, lying to their investors and unjustly enriching themselves in the process.” Valvani [...]