A former Deloitte and Touche LLP partner and his son were charged with insider trading in securities of Best Buy Co. Inc. , Sears Holdings Corp. and other companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday.
Thomas Flanagan, a former Deloitte vice chairman, used inside information obtained through his duties at the accounting firm to reap more than $430,000 in illegal profits, the SEC said.
Flanagan also gave his son, Patrick, some of the nonpublic information. He made more than $57,000 illegally trading the companies’ securities, the SEC said.
The Flanagans agreed to pay more than $1.1 million to settle the SEC charges and did not admit to or deny the allegations. Lawyers for the Flanagans did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
From 2003 to 2008, the former Deloitte executive used inside information such as earnings results, sales figures and an acquisition, to illegally profit from trading securities of Best Buy, Sears, Walgreen Co. and Motorola Inc.
Flanagan, a certified public accountant, served as an advisory partner on Deloitte’s audit engagements with Best Buy, Sears and Walgreen. He served as a partner on Deloitte’s consulting engagement with Motorola.
He began working at Deloitte’s predecessor firm in 1970 and was a partner at Deloitte from 1978 until 2008, when he resigned.
In January, Deloitte won a lawsuit against Flanagan, who was accused of fraud and breaching fiduciary duties and contracts.
Anyone who knew this guy or worked with him at Deloitte is not shocked by this.