March 21, 2011
Bloomberg
Igor Poteroba, a former UBS AG (UBSN) investment banker who pleaded guilty to insider trading, was sentenced to 22 months in prison.
U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty in Manhattan also ordered Poteroba to pay a $25,000 fine and to serve three years of supervised release after his prison term. In December, Poteroba, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and three counts of securities fraud.
“This activity was done repeatedly, over an extended period of time,” Crotty said before passing sentence.
Poteroba has agreed to forfeit the $465,000 in proceeds from his insider trading. Crotty said today he will probably be deported to his native Russia.
Poteroba, who worked in UBS Securities LLC’s Global Healthcare Group in New York, was charged and arrested in March 2010 along with Alexei Koval, a Chicago man who allegedly traded on the information. Poteroba was accused of leaking tips about potential mergers and acquisitions involving six public companies to Koval and a third, unidentified person.
The judge said Poteroba’s 22-month term includes the year he already spent in a federal lockup since his arrest. Poteroba’s lawyers argued that his time already served was an appropriate term. Prosecutors urged Crotty to sentence him to as long as 37 months.
“I made some very bad mistakes and made many bad decisions,” Poteroba told Crotty.
Koval pleaded guilty in January. His sentencing is scheduled for May 24.
The case is U.S. v. Poteroba, 10-mag-00562, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
