Ex-Nasdaq executive gets 42 months for insider trading

[ProSense]

Source: Reuters

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) - A former Nasdaq OMX Group Inc executive on Friday was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty for making hundreds of thousands of dollars by trading on confidential information.

Donald Johnson, 57, was director and then managing director of Nasdaq's market intelligence desk before retiring in September 2009. In May he pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud for his scheme, which ran from 2006 until 2009.

He was responsible for monitoring the stocks of companies traded on the Nasdaq as well as giving the companies information and analyses about trading in their stocks. As a result, Johnson received advance information about upcoming companies' earnings, news releases and personnel changes.

Federal prosecutors accused him of using that inside information on at least eight occasions, reaping $641,000. Securities regulators said there was a ninth illegal trade that brings the total ill-gotten gains to just over $755,000.


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