Man Used Confidential Information From Wife -- a Lawyer -- to Trade Stock

Fei Yan and his wife had a solid marriage.

They shared everything, kept no secrets. So it was troubling when he got caught using confidential information she had about a pending corporate deal.

Yan traded on that inside information and made almost $110,000. For his wife, an attorney, the honeymoon was almost over.

Securities Fraud

Federal officials said Yan, who worked as a research associate at the Massachusetts Institution of Technology, repeatedly traded on information from his spouse. Menglu Wang was working on a corporate acquisition at the time.

According to the FBI, the couple were in frequent phone contact during a potential merger between two mining companies. Wang was billing dozen of hours on the deal.

On one occasion, the couple talked on the phone for about 30 minutes. The next day, Yan researched an article online titled "Want to Commit Insider Trading? Here's How Not to Do It."

After the trades, Yan was arrested and later pled guilty to securities fraud.

No Knowledge

Yan said his wife didn't know anything about the insider trading. Wang, who was an associate at Linklaters at the time, is no longer working at the firm.

"My wife, Menglu Wang, had no knowledge that I misappropriated or traded on the basis of this information," Yan said. "I knew what I was doing was wrong and I am deeply sorry, especially to my wife."

Her lawyer, Wayne Gosnell, said Wang was "completely innocent." Apparently, she was also completely ignorant of her husband's secret.

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