The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged a 39-year-old British national with running a trade fraud scheme that netted him nearly $3.75 million in illegal profits.
Robert Westbrook, of London, was arrested last week and is expected to be extradited to the U.S. to face charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and five counts of computer fraud.
According to court documents, Westbrook allegedly ran a fraudulent scheme between January 2019 and May 2020 that allowed him to gain millions by gaining unauthorized access to Microsoft 365 accounts belonging to corporate executives.
“On at least five occasions, Westbrook gained unauthorized access to Office 365 email accounts belonging to corporate executives working for certain US companies in order to obtain non-public information, including information about upcoming earnings announcements,” the Department said. of justice. said.
The defendant then used this information to purchase securities and make a profit sell them in short order as soon as the details became public knowledge.
“On several occasions, Westbrook implemented automatic forwarding rules designed to automatically forward content from compromised email accounts of corporate executives to email accounts controlled by Westbrook,” the Justice Department said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Westbrook fraudulently obtained confidential information from five publicly traded companies ahead of at least 14 earnings reports by resetting the passwords to those executives’ accounts.
“Although Westbrook has taken several steps to conceal his identity, including the use of anonymous email accounts, VPN services and the use of Bitcoin, the Commission’s advanced data analytics, crypto-asset tracking and technology can reveal fraud even in cases related to complex international hacking,” Jorge. G. Tenreira, Acting Chief of the SEC’s Division of Crypto Assets and Cyberspace, said.
Westbrook’s maximum potential penalty for securities fraud is up to 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine. The wire fraud charges carry another maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine or double the crime’s profits or losses, whichever is greater.
Each count of computer fraud carries a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the crime’s gains or losses, whichever is greater.
