A former employee Amazon has been arrested along with two of her family members after reportedly using insider information to make investments. Between 2016 and 2018, the employee worked as a manager in Amazon’s tax department. During this time, she allegedly shared confidential information about Amazon’s earnings with her husband. Her husband and father-in-law used this information to invest in Amazon stock across 11 different accounts.
As a result of the alleged insider trading, the family amassed over $1 million. The former employee, her husband and father-in-law were charged with white-collar crimes in September 2020. The family has been ordered to pay back the $1 million that they earned plus over $100,000 in interest and additional penalties over $1 million.
According to one of the authorities involved in the case, sharing confidential information and using that to make investments is illegal. Amazon reportedly sent out regular announcements that reminded their employees that insider trading is against the law. As a result, the woman may have known that what she was doing was illegal but acted anyway.
Amazon is far from the first company to have employees involved in insider trading. An Equifax employee was convicted of insider trading in 2018, and a Palo Alto Networks employee was convicted in 2019 after making $7 million from insider trading. Many of the people who commit white-collar crimes already have high-paying jobs.
Where can you go when you’re accused of white-collar crimes?
If you’ve been accused of white-collar crimes, you might be looking at serious consequences. White-collar crimes often include fraud, embezzlement, identity theft, insider trading, extortion, racketeering and more. Whatever the case, you might be looking at years of jail time and thousands or millions of dollars in fines.
When you’re dealing with serious charges, you may want to hire an attorney as soon as possible. An attorney may be able to convince a prosecutor to minimize the charges and reduce your sentence as much as possible. No matter how complicated your situation is, you have the right to an attorney.
