Ukrainian Hackers Reach $30M Settlement With SEC

Ukrainian-based Jaspen Capital Partners Limited and its CEO Andriy Supranonok have agreed to pay $30 million to settle allegations that they hacked newswire services and used non-public corporate information in an insider-trading scheme. The early look at information allowed Jaspen to generate more than $100 million in illegal profits over five years, the SEC said. “This case should serve as a shot across the bow of any trader who thinks that [contracts-for-differences] traded outside the United States can be used to mask their unlawful conduct,” said Michael J. Osnato, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Complex Financial Instruments Unit. “The SEC’s use of sophisticated analytical tools to identify abusive CFD trading like this demonstrates our ability to police this opaque market.”