Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading
A psychiatrist pleaded guilty Thursday to trading stock on inside information he obtained during sessions with the wife of financier Sanford I. Weill.
“I know what I did was wrong,” Dr. Robert Willis said. “I didn’t know it was against a specific law, but I knew it was illegal.”
Willis, 51, pleaded guilty to two counts of securities fraud before U.S. District Judge Miriam Cedarbaum. He was indicted in July on 46 counts of securities and mail fraud. Forty-four counts were dropped as part of a plea agreement.
Willis faces up to 10 years in prison and $500,000 in fines at his sentencing Nov. 2.
He admitted that he traded in BankAmerica Corp. stock in January and February, 1986, after he learned from Weill’s wife that her husband, the former chief executive of Shearson Loeb Rhoades, was attempting to become chairman of BankAmerica.
She also told him that Weill’s financial backers intended to invest in BankAmerica if he was successful.
The indictment alleged that Willis violated his professional and legal duties by disclosing the information to his broker and by buying $171,130 worth of stock in BankAmerica.
He sold the stock Feb. 21, 1986, after an announcement about Weill’s attempt to become a BankAmerica executive, making a profit of $27,475.
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