In the past year, James A. “Andrew” Stiles and Edward G. “Gray” Stiles, two cousins with different locations in the United States, have pleaded guilty to insider trading. The charges against them stem from their use of confidential information about Eastman Kodak Company to make illegal profits over $1 million.
The hearing took place in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where a securities fraud case was filed against the duo in February 2023. Prosecutors claimed that they misappropriated information about potential government loans being made to Eastman Kodak Company to finance the production of Covid-19-related pharmaceutical components.
Andrew Stiles, who was 38 years old at the time, was a newly hired executive at drug manufacturer Phlow Corp., which was collaborating with Eastman Kodak on a pandemic-era project and assisting the company in applying for a large government loan that was made public on July 27, 2020. At that time, a $765 million “letter of interest” was announced, causing Kodak stock to experience a significant rise and increase its price by more than 2,500 percent above the closing price before the news.
In response to this announcement, Andrew shared confidential information about the financing status with his cousin Edward G., who is now 39 years old and resides in Richmond, Virginia. The two cousins then bought approximately 130,000 shares of Eastman Kodak between June 2020 and the day when the financing letter became public. After selling all their stock within weeks of the announcement date, they made a combined $1.2 million from their trades according to Damian Williams’ statement as U.S Attorney for Southern District of New York.[
