GS Goldman Sachs Group Inc

By Dave Michaels 

WASHINGTON -- A banker at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was arrested Thursday and charged with insider trading after authorities alleged he traded ahead of mergers and acquisitions that he learned about while working at the bank.

Woojae "Steve" Jung, 37 years old, earned about $140,000 from illegal trades in both stocks and bullish call options, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a separate civil lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan.

Mr. Jung allegedly traded in shares of at least 12 companies, including SanDisk Corp. and WebMD Health Corp., with pending or anticipated mergers and acquisitions, according to the SEC. He used a South Korean friend's account to conceal his involvement in the transactions, the SEC said.

Mr. Jung's illicit trading lasted from 2015 to 2017, the SEC said. The bank's internal records show he accessed information about the deals during the period when he placed his trades, according to the federal criminal complaint. Mr. Jung accessed his friend's brokerage account more than 600 times, the SEC said.

Mr. Jung joined Goldman in 2012 and has worked in both New York and San Francisco for the bank. A LinkedIn profile carrying his name says he handled deals in the technology, media and telecommunications sectors and earned an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. A Goldman spokesman said Thursday that Mr. Jung was placed on leave from the firm.

Mr. Jung didn't respond to a message seeking comment. Court records don't show an attorney for him.

Mr. Jung faces a possible prison sentence if convicted in the criminal case. The SEC's civil lawsuit asks a court to order that Mr. Jung turn over any ill-gotten profits and pay a monetary penalty.

The SEC also wants Mr. Jung's friend, Sungrok Hwang of Seoul, to give up his trading profits from the scheme. Mr. Hwang couldn't be reached for comment. The SEC's complaint says the men attended the same university in South Korea.

"Jung tried to insulate himself by allegedly placing trades in the brokerage account of a friend who lived overseas," said Joseph Sansone, chief of the SEC's market-abuse unit. "Like others before him, Jung's alleged scheme failed when our data analysis uncovered the account's suspicious trading pattern and, despite Jung's attempts at evasion, traced the trading back to him."

Write to Dave Michaels at dave.michaels@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 31, 2018 17:08 ET (21:08 GMT)

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