American man earns $2 million by listening to wife’s office phone calls during WFH, gets divorced
Curated by, Shankyanil Sarkar
Last updated: 23 February 2024, 12:36 IST
Washington DC, United States of America (USA)
A Texas man’s unauthorized trading based on his wife’s work phone calls has resulted in legal consequences and a divorce filing. (Image: Freepik/Karlukv)
Tyler Loudon benefited from insider information he gained by listening in on his wife’s calls while she worked from home.
Texas resident Tyler Loudon made nearly $2 million by illegally trading by eavesdropping on his wife’s conversations. According to a report by the news outlet, Loudon’s wife worked as a mergers and acquisitions manager for BP plc (formerly British Petroleum and BP Amoco), working on a deal that would have resulted in BP’s acquisition of the U.S. Was overseeing the acquisition of Travelcentres. bloomberg In which the US Securities and Exchange Commission was cited.
This is the latest case of listening to couples’ conversations while working from home.
Loudon worked for several months at TravelCenters of America Inc. And when BP announced it was buying TravelCenters of America at a 74% premium, Loudon liquidated his brokerage and retirement accounts at the same time, around February 2023. He made a profit of $1.76 million. ,
The SEC said his wife, who worked as a mergers and acquisitions manager with BP PLC, was unaware of his trading.
The SEC and U.S. prosecutors in Texas said Tyler got the idea of buying TravelCenters after learning about a potential deal from his wife. She was working on a deal in a home office 6 meters away.
He eventually confessed, after which she moved out of the house and filed for divorce. He also reported his trading to BP, which fired him despite finding no evidence that he had knowingly leaked the deals.
Loudon later agreed to give up the money earned on the transaction and pay a fine as part of the settlement.
The BP plc – TravelCenters of America Inc. deal, valued at $1.3 billion, gave British oil greater access to the network of American gas stations. At the time of the deal the US company had a network of 281 locations in 44 states.
Since the beginning of the work-from-home era at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US SEC has uncovered several cases of insider trading involving information overheard or seen while working from home with a significant other . The SEC said the conversations Loudon made were not limited to his home, as while he was traveling in Rome he listened and watched what his wife was doing. The SEC said Loudon sat across from his wife while she worked on the TravelCenter deal in a small rental apartment.
