She did no wrong and yet she was caught up in a most peculiar case of insider trading at UBS. Now, the investment banker has quit her job.
Annie Wang has left her promising job on the mergers-and-acquisitions team of UBS, «Bloomberg» said in a report on Thursday, citing people familiar with the story. She departed following a rather unusual case of insider trading that involved her partner.
Peter Cho, an accountant, used to listen in on phone calls made by his then fiancee Annie Wang in 2016, while on holiday or at home. The deal Wang worked on for her employer UBS involved Alaska Airlines, which wanted to acquire Virgin America for $2.6 billion.
Personal Gain
Cho acted upon the information he gleaned from the calls and speculated on a rise of the Virgin shares. He earned more than $250,000 on his speculative trading. The problem was that he shouldn't of course have used the information he obtained for his personal gain.
The SEC probe into the case revealed that he used insider information. The U.S. body agreed on a settlement with Cho in December. Cho has to pay back the illicit gain plus interest and a fine to match, adding up to a total of $532,777.
Married After All
Annie Wang wasn't to blame. Which UBS had told «Bloomberg» at the time. The bank had looked closely into the case and come to the conclusion that the banker had not been part of the transaction.
The Swiss bank didn't comment further on the case, while the legal representative of the couple, today married, told «Bloomberg» that the probe had shown that Annie Wang had done nothing wrong.
