SEC charges three people for Long Blockchain Corp insider trading
Patrick Thompson, 09 July 2021
In December 2017, at the peak of the era that many refer to as ‘crypto mania’, New York-based beverage maker ‘Long Island Ice Tea’ changed its name to “Long Blockchain Corp. At the time of the rebrand, the beverage maker said they would transition out of manufacturing beverages and focus their efforts on blockchain technology.
After the rebrand, shares of Long Blockchain Corp rocketed upward by more than 380% intraday–unfortunately, Long Blockchain Corp never transitioned into producing blockchain technologies; which is one of the reasons that three individuals connected to the company have just been charged with insider trading related to the Long Blockchain Corp stock.
What happened?
Today, the SEC announced that they have charged three individuals–an undisclosed individual that works at Long Blockchain Corp, Cayman Island-based stockbroker Oliver Barret-Lindsay, and Gannon Giguiere–for insider trading Long Blockchain Corp.
The undisclosed individual leaked the information regarding Long Island Ice Tea’s rebrand to their friend and stockbroker, Oliver Barret-Lindsay; beyond giving Barret-Lindsay this information, the individual shared a draft of the company’s press release announcing the rebrand with Barret-Lindsay. Subsequently, Barret-Lindsay passed on the information he knew about Long Island Ice Tea to his friend Gannon Giguiere. Giguiere purchased 35,000 shares of Long Island Ice Tea after hearing the news. When Long Island Ice Tea officially made the announcement, its stock immediately soared, within two hours of the announcement, Giguiere sold his 35,000 shares in Long Blockchain Corp for a $160,000 profit.
