The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today that an Arizona resident, David A. Minson, has agreed to pay over $1.1 million to resolve claims of alleged insider trading involving shares of meal kit company Blue Apron Holdings Inc.
According to the SEC’s cease-and-desist order filed on Friday, the 82-year-old misappropriated confidential information regarding Blue Apron’s proposed acquisition by Wonder Group Inc. in 2023. The SEC did not identify the Blue Apron executive who provided the information.
“By virtue of their history and practice of sharing confidences, Minson owed a duty of trust and confidence to the Blue Apron executive, who expected him to maintain the confidentiality of the information,” the SEC order states.
The SEC alleges that during multiple visits by the executive to Minson’s home in September 2023, Minson received non-public information about the merger and subsequently purchased over 75,000 shares of Blue Apron stock across three brokerage accounts. Purchases were made at prices ranging from $7.66 to $8.14 per share, totaling more than $588,000.
Following the public announcement of the merger on September 29, 2023, Minson sold all his shares for over $550,000 in profits, while Blue Apron stock closed at $12.88 per share, up 130% from the previous day, according to the SEC.
Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, Minson agreed to pay disgorgement of $550,842.13, a civil penalty of the same amount, and prejudgment interest of $41,606.34, bringing the total SEC settlement to over $1.1 million.
The SEC is represented in-house by Nicholas Chung, John Rymas, and Diana Tani. Counsel information for Minson was not immediately available. The case is filed as In the Matter of David J. Minson, file number 3-22513, before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
