SEC v. J. Patrick O'Neill and Robert H. Bray (insider trading, 2017)

Judgment entered

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In October 2017 the SEC announced a final judgment against real estate developer Robert Bray over trading in Wainwright Bank shares on a tip from J. Patrick O'Neill of Eastern Bank. Disgorgement of $299,742 was deemed satisfied by criminal forfeiture. O'Neill had settled the SEC's charges.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

$300k

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$300k

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 SEC alleged in 2014 that O'Neill, a senior vice president at Eastern Bank, learned of its planned acquisition of Wainwright and tipped his golfing friend Bray, who bought Wainwright shares and sold for nearly $300,000. O'Neill pleaded guilty and settled the SEC case. A jury found Bray guilty and he was sentenced to two years in prison with a $1 million fine; the First Circuit affirmed.

The October 25, 2017 civil judgment enjoins Bray and orders disgorgement of $299,742, deemed satisfied by the forfeiture order.

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. 2017-10-25 Litigation release published

Primary documents

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• SEC litigation release

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 2 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.