SEC v. Austin Kauh (insider trading, 2024)

Settled

✓ Checked against the primary document on October 3, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

Report an error in this record (sec-austin-kauh-insider-trading-2024) by email

In September 2024 the Securities and Exchange Commission settled with Austin Kauh, a Chewy due diligence team member, finding that he bought Trupanion stock in his own account and a relative's account he controlled ahead of December 2021's announcement of a Chewy and Trupanion pet insurance partnership. He agreed to a cease-and-desist order, a five-year officer and director bar, $4,344 in disgorgement, $634.79 in interest and a $30,297.14 penalty.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$30.3k

Disgorgement

$4.3k

Prejudgment interest

$635

Total relief

$35.3k

Alleged gain

$4.3k

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued this settled order on September 27, 2024 (Release No. 34-101202).

The order finds that Kauh breached his duties to Chewy by trading while in possession of confidential partnership negotiations. Trupanion's stock rose about 39 percent after the announcement.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Insider trading — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2024-09-27 Administrative proceeding instituted (cease-and-desist)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC order

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.