Federal prosecutors in Manhattan say a New York City broker turned confidential Wall Street deal chatter into a personal trading goldmine, and then tried to cover his tracks when regulators closed in.
An indictment unsealed on March 30, 2026 charges Ronald Smith, a Manhattan-based broker, with securities fraud, wire fraud, falsification of records and conspiracy in an alleged insider-trading scheme. Prosecutors say Smith siphoned confidential deal information from an investment bank, then traded on it for himself, his girlfriend and select brokerage clients, racking up millions in illicit profits. The government ties trades in Score Media & Gaming and VMware to the alleged tips and says Smith later scrambled to hide what was going on once regulators started asking questions.
“The hallmarks of our world-leading securities markets are transparency and fairness,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Insider trading undermines those principles, and our Office will pursue insider…
