Swiss Man Charged In Manhattan Federal Court For Insider Trading Scheme That Generated More Than

Swiss Man Charged In Manhattan Federal Court For Insider Trading Scheme That Generated More Than $4.7 Million In Profits


Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the indictment of ROLAND MATHYS for his participation in a scheme to trade on material, nonpublic information (the “Inside Information”) regarding a tender offer by Sanofi, S.A (“Sanofi”) for Bioverativ, Inc. (“Bioverativ”). After the tender offer was announced, MATHYS’s trading yielded over $4.7 million in illegal profits.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “As alleged, Roland Mathys engaged in insider trading, and profited to the tune of nearly $5 million – until his scheme was exposed. He allegedly used confidential information about a pending acquisition of a company to purchase call options in that company, knowing that the value of these options would balloon after the acquisition was publicly announced. Working with the FBI and the SEC, we remain committed to policing the marketplace to take the profit out of cheating.”

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said: “Every time someone engages in insider trading, they illegally stack investment odds in their favor. Mathys’s alleged behavior is not only dishonorable, but illegal. While this type of activity might initially prove profitable, in the long run there’s nothing to be gained.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment filed today in Manhattan federal court[1]:

Background of Sanofi’s Tender Offer for Bioverativ

On November 3, 2017, Sanofi, a multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Paris, France, delivered to Bioverativ, a multinational biotechnology company headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, a non-binding proposal offering to acquire all outstanding shares of Bioverativ at a price of $98.50 per share in cash. Bioverativ specialized in the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of hemophilia, and its stock was traded under the ticker symbol “BIVV” on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange. On December 5, 2017, Sanofi and Bioverativ entered into a confidentiality agreement regarding the acquisition negotiations. On December 18, 2017, representatives of Sanofi and Bioverativ met in New York, New York, for a management presentation, which included a review of Bioverativ’s business, products and pipeline, operations, and projections. On January 4, 2018, Sanofi indicated that it would be willing to pursue an acquisition of Bioverativ at a price of $105 per share, subject to Sanofi’s successful completion of due diligence and Bioverativ’s agreement to engage exclusively with Sanofi. On January 6, 2018, Sanofi and Bioverativ executed an exclusivity agreement, which provided Sanofi with the right, through January 26, 2018, to negotiate exclusively the potential acquisition of all the outstanding shares of Bioverativ at the price of $105 per share.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/swiss-man-charged-manhattan-federal-court-insider-trading-scheme-generated-more-47