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To: scion who wrote (113246)	6/3/2011 1:32:24 PM
From: scion	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122087

SEC Adds Insider Trading Charge Vs FDA Chemist by The Associated Press WASHINGTON June 2, 2011, 08:41 pm ET npr.org Federal regulators on Thursday expanded their civil insider-trading charges against a chemist with the Food and Drug Administration accused of using confidential FDA information on pending drug approvals to profit from trades of drug companies' stock. Cheng Yi Liang is facing both civil and criminal charges of running an insider trading scheme starting in November 2007. He and his son were arrested in March on charges including securities fraud and wire fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday it filed a revised civil lawsuit against Liang, alleging he illegally traded in advance of a public announcement on FDA approval of XenoPort Inc.'s Horizant. That was the 28th announcement the SEC says Liang traded ahead of, in addition to the 27 cited in the agency's suit filed in federal court in Greenbelt, Md., on March 29. The agency's revised suit "shows Liang had one more illegal trade in the pipeline when we charged him," SEC spokesman John Nester said in a statement. "That trade was not expected to pay off until after we put a stop to his fraudulent scheme." Horizant was developed to treat restless leg syndrome. Liang made more than $126,000 in profits on XenoPort's stock, the SEC said. He is accused of making a total $3.6 million in the trading scheme. Liang's lawyer, Andrew Carter, didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Thursday. The SEC is seeking unspecified restitution and fines against Liang. Liang looked up the status of the FDA's review of Horizant on a confidential database at least 52 times between Jan. 6 and March 24, the SEC said. He bought 43,000 shares of XenoPort in accounts in other people's names in February and March. The announcement of the approval of Horizant came on April 6, about a week after Liang was charged by the SEC and federal prosecutors. It boosted the price of XenoPort stock by 56 percent, according to the SEC. The new SEC complaint adds an eighth brokerage account to those it says Liang used to avoid getting caught. That one was in the name of his father, the agency said. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the government has expanded its investigation of insider trading at the FDA to cover other government employees besides Liang. The Journal cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. Nester declined to comment on the report. npr.org

To: scion who wrote (113246)	10/19/2011 11:54:03 AM
From: scion	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122087

FDA chemist pleads guilty to insider trading By Jessica Gresko Associated Press / October 18, 2011 boston.com WASHINGTON—A chemist with the Food and Drug Administration pleaded guilty Tuesday to using a confidential drug database to earn nearly $3.8 million by trading the stock of companies with new drug applications. Cheng Yi Liang, a chemist who has worked for the FDA since 1996, acknowledged using the database to find out when the FDA would make announcements regarding new drugs and what the agency's decision would be. In some cases, when an application was about to be approved, he would buy shares of the company's stock. When the stock went up after the drug's approval was announced, Liang would sell the stock at a profit. Court documents say that between 2006 and 2011, Liang purchased and sold stock in more than 25 companies using insider information. Those purchases included thousands of shares of stock in the company Clinical Data Inc. in early 2011. Several days after Liang made the purchases it was announced that the company's drug Viibryd, an antidepressant, was approved. Liang made nearly $380,000 selling his previously purchased stock. Clinical Data was later acquired by New York-based Forest Laboratories Inc. Liang, 57, agreed as part of his guilty plea to forfeit the money he earned in the scheme. He declined to comment following a hearing in federal court in Greenbelt, Md., where he pleaded guilty to insider trading and making a false statement by failing to disclose his illicit profits on an FDA financial disclosure form. His attorney, Andrew Carter, said his client has submitted his resignation to the FDA. Liang was originally charged in March along with his son Andrew Liang. At the time, prosecutors said the scheme involved approximately $2.3 million and that father and son used the money to pay for travel and buy new cars. Liang's son pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography at the end of September, but prosecutors dropped the insider trading charges. Liang faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine for insider trading. He also faces five years in prison and an additional fine for making a false statement. Federal sentencing guidelines suggest, however, that he will likely receive around five to seven years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 9. A separate civil lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Liang also appears to be wrapping up. A lawyer for the SEC said in a court document filed in early October that Liang had reached an "agreement in principle" that if approved by the commission would resolve the lawsuit. The SEC said it expected the review of that agreement to take 45 days. ------ Jessica Gresko can be reached at twitter.com boston.com