Former Eagles and Browns linebacker Mychal Kendricks pleaded guilty to insider trading in front of a federal judge on Thursday in Philadelphia, Tommy Rowan of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Kendricks could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for December. The 27-year-old defender admitted guilt in scheme perpetrated years ago a statement last week, shortly before the Browns released him.
“Because I know I was wrong,” Kendricks replied when U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter asked why he pleaded guilty. “I know that I made the decision to accept information, secret information, and it wasn’t the right thing to do. I’m making the decision because it’s the right thing to do.”
The former Goldman Sachs analyst-turned-sitcom writer who participated in this scheme with Kendricks, 27-year-old Damilare Sonoiki, is also expected to plead guilty. Kendricks said he did not use any of the $1.2MM profits and intends to pay back all illegally obtained funds.
< 2 week conviction.. something smells
… maybe because he pled guilty…. some people on here are nuts
I wonder how the feds found out so many years later…..
“According to the charges, Kendricks and Sonoiki met at a party. From July 2014 to March 2015, Kendricks got illegal tips from Sonoiki about upcoming mergers of four of Goldman’s clients. Mergers often lead to an increase in stock prices, and Kendricks bought call options — a type of security that’s essentially a bet that a stock’s price will go up — on companies that were going to be bought in merger deals before the deal was announced. Sonoiki also set up an online brokerage account that both men could access.
Kendricks made a lot of money doing it. According to the US attorney’s office, Sonoiki’s tips made Kendricks about $1.2 million on call options he bought on Compuware, Move, Sapient, and Oplink. News Corp. announced plans to buy Move, a real estate listing company, in September 2014, and Kendricks made a nearly 400 percent return, buying the options at $71,000 and selling them at $350,000.
In return, Kendricks allegedly gave Sonoiki tickets to Eagles games and about $10,000 in cash. He also allegedly let him spend an evening on the set of a music video in which Kendricks made a cameo appearance. The video appears to be “Maybe” by Teyana Taylor, released in 2014.”
Excellent post. Don’t follow the market close like I once did. It’s interesting he took a chance on News Corp which gained a lot of attention a few years ago for it’s infamous fire sale of Myspace.
How ironic would it be if the accomplice wrote the sitcom “Happy Days” and then found himself doing a 25 year stretch in prison?
It almost reads like a page from a Mad Libs book. Really curious what sort of sentence gets handed out here. Surely nowhere near max?