SEC v. Harold L. Altvater (insider trading, 2017)

Settled

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In July 2017 the SEC announced that Harold Altvater, already defending its June 2017 civil complaint over Ariad Pharmaceuticals trading, had been indicted. He was convicted in October 2018 and sentenced to 18 months. A consent final judgment entered on July 23, 2020 enjoins him and orders $112,569 in disgorgement, offset by his criminal forfeiture.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

$113k

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$113k

Alleged gain

—

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 release reports a July 20, 2017 indictment in Massachusetts based on the same conduct as the SEC's civil action filed June 27, 2017. The SEC alleged that Altvater traded Ariad shares on three occasions between October 2013 and January 2014 ahead of FDA-related announcements, using information misappropriated from his wife, and obtained profits and avoided losses of $102,026.

That release described allegations only; the later outcome is below.

Outcome: SEC litigation release LR-24855 reports that the federal court in Boston entered a final judgment by consent on July 23, 2020. It permanently enjoins Altvater from violating Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 and orders disgorgement of $112,569, which the release says is offset by the criminal forfeiture. It reports that he was convicted on three counts of securities fraud in October 2018 and sentenced in January 2019 to 18 months in prison with a $115,657 forfeiture. The release does not mention a civil penalty. Consent judgments are entered without admitting or denying the allegations. Checked on 2026-10-04.

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. 2017-07-28 Litigation release published
2. 2020-07-23 Final judgment entered by consent

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 litigation release
• SEC litigation release on the final judgment (LR-24855)

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.

Same matter

The library links these 4 records because they appear to concern one matter: the same lead defendant, an overlapping technique tag and close filing dates, or a shared court docket or a release that cites the other. Records are listed by date filed.

This grouping is the library's, made by matching names, techniques, dates and citations when the site is built. It is not the regulator's or a court's determination that the records are one case, and it errs towards missing a link rather than making a false one.

Related actions

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

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.