By Jordan Maglich, Contributor The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC“) filed a lawsuit against two Oregon IT specialists, accusing them of violating federal securities laws by trading on inside information of their company’s impending merger with a competitor.  After Blake Wellington, 46, and Daniel Vance, 40, learned of confidential merger negotiations while troubleshooting a problem on their CEO‘s computer, the two men sold personal possessions and even obtained a loan from a peer-to-peer lending site to buy thousands of company shares.  When the merger was announced shortly after, the shares skyrocketed 150% in value and netted the two tens of thousands of dollars in profits.  Without admitting or denying the charges, Wellington and Vance have agreed to a consent judgment in which they will pay over $150,000 in disgorgement of their ill-gotten gains, along with prejudgment interest and civil monetary penalties. The Scheme The two men worked as information technology specialists at Clear One Health Plans, Inc. (“ClearOne”), an Oregon health insurance provider.  One day in December 2009, Vance was summoned to the company CEO‘s office, who was having difficulties sending several email attachments.  The attachments contained highly confidential information about a possible merger with ClearOne competitor PacificSource Health Plans (“Pacific Source”), including a deal timeline and media talking points.  After working on the issue, Vance solved the problem.
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