Indian origin engineers and friends charged in $1 million insider trading scheme in US

Three Indian origin engineers working with Twilio and their associates have been charged in a $1 million insider trading scheme as the SEC charged three software engineers with sharing non public financial information to make stock bets ahead of earnings.

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The allegation
Between March and May 2020, as cloud based tools were surging due to work from home, Twilio engineers Lokesh Lagudu, Chotu Pulagam and Hari Sure accessed financial information from the company’s databases. Through a private chat group, they shared that information with others, who then executed trades before Twilio announced first-quarter results in May 2020 as per the complaint.

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How it was executed
Sure allegedly passed non public financial information to his friend Dileep Kamujula, and Pulagam gave details to his brother, Chetan Pulagam. Lagudu provided information to his girlfriend, Sai Nekkalapudi, and also his friend, Abhishek Dharmapurikar.

Insider trade scam
Twilio’s results soared past estimates and the stock skyrocketed. Due to the scheme, the group generated over $1 million in profits, the SEC said.