On Monday, the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) said that at least from January 2016 to July 2018, Laksha Bohra conducted trades based on confidential information to which she had access as a member of Amazon's tax department.
The senior manager was involved in preparing and auditing financial statements included in Amazon's quarterly earnings . Bohra allegedly used that knowledge to make "illegal profits," according to the SEC.
The 36-year-old Bohra not only played this game on her own, but is also said to have advised members of her family, including her father‑in‑law and her husband.
“Bohra ignored quarterly reminders prohibiting her from communicating material non-public information or recommending the purchase or sale of Amazon securities,” the SEC said.
If a person has access to inside financial information, they may be able to buy or sell stocks and securities based on predictions of what will happen to a company's stock prices. For example, profits may cause stock prices to rise, while the disclosure of losses may cause stock prices to fall.
In total, over the course of about two years, the former director and her family earned about $1.4 million. Bohra's father-in-law reportedly toldone of the brokerage firms that the accounts were being treated as a "family matter."
“Amazon considered the pre-launch financial information to be confidential, highly sensitive, material and should not be published,” the US agency says, adding in the complaint that Amazon had previously demonstrated a “zero tolerance” attitude towards insider trading.
Amazon terminated Bohra's employment in October 2018, leading to Bohra's resignation. However, the reason for her termination was not disclosed in the complaint.
The complaint charges all three family with violating federal securities laws.
According to the SEC, all three also agreed to return 1.428.094 $, interest 118.406 $ and additional penalties 1.106.399 $.
“Employees with access to confidential, potentially moving corporate information should not use that information to make money on a personal level,” commented Erin Schneider, director of the SEC ’s San Francisco.
