Arrest in US$4m insider trading case from law firm hacks

[NEW YORK] US prosecutors announced criminal charges Tuesday against three hackers who allegedly made US$4 million in illicit profits from insider trading of information pilfered from law firms advising on corporate mergers.

The three defendants, two from Macau and one from China, successfully breached the computer networks of international law firms with New York offices by unlawfully obtaining a firm employee's credentials and installing malware on his company's server, the US Attorney's office in New York said.

The malware permitted the hackers to monitor law firm communications about more than a dozen transactions in 2014 and 2015 that were discussed or contemplated, including some deals that were never consummated.

The hackers then bought shares of companies that would later be acquired, winning big profits.

The hackers allegedly made US$380,000 on trades of Intermune, a drug maker bought by Germany's Roche in 2014; US$1.4 million in trades on Altera, bought by Intel in 2015; and US$841,000 on Borderfree, acquired by Pitney Bowes in 2015.

"This case of cyber-meets-securities fraud should serve as a wake-up call for law firms around the world: you are and will be targets of cyber hacking because you have information valuable to would-be criminals," US Attorney Preet Bharara said.

The authorities arrested Iat Hong of Macau in Hong Kong, who is now pending extradition proceedings. The other two defendants, Chin Hung of Macau and Bo Zheng of China, are at large, a spokesman for the US Attorney's office said.

AFP