US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, abbreviation in English), accused this Thursday of a former employee of a pharmaceutical company pfizer use of privileged information about the pill against COVID-19in which he worked to multiply his profits in the stock market.

The defendant, Amit Dagar, one of the statisticians who participated in the clinical trial of the drug Paxlovid, learned that it was successful the day before it was announced to the public in November 2021, and carried out transactions in the stock market that turned a profit .2458% return on their investment, according to the statement.

After Pfizer announced that the drug was effective against COVID-19 In an essay noting that it was a “tipping point” in the fight against the pandemic, the company’s shares rose about 11%, the biggest daily gain in more than a decade.

Dagar shared the information with his friend Atul Bhivapurkar, who took 791% of the profits and is also being blamed by the regulator. US market.

In total, Dagar earned about $214,000 (nearly €197,000) and Bhivapurkar made about $60,000 (€55,000).

The two defendants also received indictments from the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, stating that a friend of a former Pfizer employee shared information with another person who also made a share gain, although she has not been identified or charged.

Dagar and Bhivapurkar face two counts of securities fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and conspiracy to commit fraud, with a maximum sentence of 5 years.

EFE