A former Equifax manager traded on confidential information in the week before the company announced a massive data breach, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged on Thursday.
Software engineering manager Sudhakar Reddy Bonthu purchased Equifax stock while creating a website for the 148 million U.S. customers impacted by the 2017 breach, the SEC said in a federal court filing.
“Corporate insiders simply cannot abuse their access to sensitive information and illegally enrich themselves,” Richard Best, director of the SEC’s Atlanta regional office, said in a statement.
Bonthu is the latest Equifax executive to face federal charges. The SEC charged the company’s chief information officer in March with insider trading.
While Bonthu was not initially informed who the client was for the website project, he concluded the company was Equifax and subsequently purchased stock in the consumer credit reporting company, the SEC alleged. After Equifax announced the breach in September 2017, Bonthu sold the stock for a $75,000 profit.
A settlement is awaiting court approval. Under the terms of that agreement, Bonthu would return the money he received from that sale with interest.
