FBI Agents Named in Elgindy Associate Case

A former FBI agent charged in an insider-trading case gave stock tips to at least two other agents in 2000 while he was still working for the agency, according to a potential witness.

The agents were named in court papers unsealed Thursday in Brooklyn during a hearing for Jeffrey Royer, a former agent charged in May with conspiring with Internet stock analyst Amr “Tony” Elgindy of San Diego and another FBI agent to commit fraud.

U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie jailed Royer after learning he may have violated his bail by contacting a former girlfriend, Christy Sarkey. He had been free on $500,000 bond.

In a recent letter to the judge, prosecutors accused Royer of calling and writing to Sarkey within days of his June release, despite Dearie’s orders to stay away from potential witnesses.

The letter argued that Sarkey, who is a police officer in Oklahoma, was a potential witness because Royer, while investigating stock fraud for the FBI in 2000, used inside information to give her a stock tip.

In an interview with the FBI, Sarkey said that she lost $4,000 on the deal and that “she knows that other agents and perhaps some support staff personnel invested with Royer,” according to a report unsealed Thursday. Sarkey named two agents, Charles Ruiz in New York and Todd Temple in San Diego, as investors.

Neither the report nor any other court document accuses Ruiz or Temple of wrongdoing.

Ruiz said Thursday that he was aware his name had surfaced in the case, but he declined further comment. A call to Temple wasn’t returned.

On Wednesday, an Elgindy associate, Derrick Cleveland, pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy as part of a deal with prosecutors to testify for the government.