Winifred Jiau, the first consultant for a so-called expert network firm to go to trial on insider trading charges, was convicted on Monday of securities fraud and conspiring with hedge funds to gain an illegal market advantage. A Manhattan federal court jury delivered its verdict on the second day of deliberations at the trial in which Jiau was charged with leaking earnings figures she obtained from insiders at chipmakers Marvell Technology Group Ltd and Nvidia Corp in 2008.
Taiwan-born Jiau, 43, lived in Fremont, California, before being arrested last December in a government crackdown on insider trading on Wall Street. A former executive of Primary Global Research, the expert network firm that paid Jiau, is scheduled to go on trial at the end of August. Jiau chose to plead not guilty and fight the charges while more than a dozen others admitted crimes or agreed to assist the investigations in hopes of a lighter sentence.
One juror, Susan Kohlmeyer, an art teacher from Westchester, New York, told reporters outside the courtroom it was a difficult decision for the panel. The petite, bespectacled Jiau, a former technology company consultant, sat expressionless as the verdict was read in US District Judge Jed Rakoff's courtroom. She sighed heavily and looked downward as the jury filed out. Jiau, who was denied bail and went on trial on June 1, faces a possible maximum 25 years in prison when she is sentenced on September 21.
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