FBI: Executives at Dell, AMD sold inside information

17.12.2010
Four executives at publicly traded technology companies have been arrested on charges they sold inside information about their employers, sometimes for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The executives allegedly pocketed hefty consulting fees for selling data to Primary Global, a Mountain View, California, market research company. Primary Global recruits experts from a number of industries, including the technology sector, to provide information about trends that it then sells to money managers. But according to the U.S. Department of Justice, one of the firm's salesmen -- -- crossed the line and sold insider information to hedge funds.

"The information trafficked by the four 'consultants' went way beyond permissible market research," the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said Thursday.

Primary Global declined to comment, except to confirm that the four insiders had worked for it as consultants, and to say that Fleishman, who has been with the company since June 2006, has now been placed on leave.

A former Dell global supply manager named Daniel Devore pleaded guilty to fraud charges on Dec. 10, the FBI said. He made US$145,750 from Primary Global between 2007 and 2010.

Devore is no longer employed by Dell, said Dell spokesman David Frink. "Dell is committed to the highest standards of ethics and integrity and we'll cooperate fully with law enforcement authorities," he said.