WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Nov. 1 that petroleum engineer Christopher J. Lollar, who worked at the Apache Corporation energy company, will settle allegations of insider trading.
“Insider trading is an attack on the integrity of our markets, and Lollar allegedly exploited confidential information from his employer to do it,” said Shamoil T. Shipchandler, director of the SEC’s Fort Worth, Texas, Regional Office. “Consequently, he was fired from his job and must pay back more than double the amount of his ill-gotten gains.”
Lollar purportedly used nonpublic information while working for Apache to turn a personal profit. Apache was set to make a major project announcement Sept. 7, 2016. Just before the announcement, Lollar allegedly traded Apache shares and call options. After the company’s project announcement, Lollar’s brokerage account jumped 2,700 percent.
“As detailed in our complaint, a telling piece of evidence we gathered was a recorded phone call to his brokerage firm during which a concerned Lollar found a faster way to get money into his account after learning the funds in his initial deposit request wouldn’t have been available for trading until Sept. 8, too late for the Alpine High announcement,” said Jessica B. Magee, associate director for enforcement in the SEC’s Fort Worth office.
Lollar will pay $214,295.07 in disgorgement, plus $7,219.36 in interest, as well as a $214,295.07 penalty.