Peizer knew what was going on, grew desperate, and sent text messages to colleagues that showed he was “fixated on Cigna,” and described the situation as “a nightmare” closely resembling the situation involving Aetna, Sentilles said.
Peizer’s attorney, David K. Willingham of King & Spalding LLP, urged jurors to consider all sides of the story to understand that, contrary to the government’s contentions, his client had already expressed his intent in January 2021 to sell stock warrants that were about to expire that year, long before Cigna aired any issues with Ontrak.
At that time, Peizer owned over nine million shares of Ontrak common stock and over a million in stock warrants set to expire, jurors heard. His motives for wanting to exercise those warrants had nothing to do with Cigna, as Peizer simply wanted to buy a home in Puerto Rico and pay off loans, Willingham said.
But executives cannot exercise warrants and quickly sell, as they must wait for the company to open the trading window, which is exactly what Peizer did, jurors heard.
