Securities trader in New York charged with front-running trades by Health & Fitness Journal employer

©Health & Fitness Journal. FILE PHOTO: The sun illuminates the exterior of the New York Stock Exchange as people walk by on the shaded street, July 16, 2008. REUTERS/Chip East (UNITED STATES)/File Photo

(Health & Fitness Journal) – A stock trader at a major US wealth manager has been criminally charged with using information about his employer’s dealings to make tens of millions of dollars in an insider trading scheme, federal prosecutors in New York said on Wednesday.

Stock trader Lawrence Billimek, 51, of Hailey, Idaho, was arrested in Texas and day trader Alan Williams, 77, of West Linn, Oregon, was arrested in his home state, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors claim they made tens of millions of dollars from more than a thousand trades prior to major stock deals from Billimek’s employer.

Both were charged with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud in indictments unsealed in Manhattan.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Billimek has been working for the financial services company TIAA-CREF since 2012.

A spokesman for TIAA’s Nuveen asset management arm said the company learned today of charges against an employee and immediately suspended him and launched its own investigation. The company cooperates with authorities.

Lawyers for the men were not immediately available.

Prosecutors said Billimek leaked confidential information about stocks his employer wanted to trade in, including Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:) Inc. and Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:) Inc. and Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:) Inc., beginning in 2016. Williams then placed profitable trades ahead of those transactions, according to the indictment .

The US Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a civil lawsuit against both men.