SEC v. Joseph Frank Vacante (insider trading, 2019)

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-joseph-frank-vacante-insider-trading-2019) by email

In February 2019 the SEC charged former Trinity Biotech employee Joseph Vacante with selling his ADRs after learning that the FDA had recommended the withdrawal of two products, avoiding a loss of over $70,000. He consented to pay $70,827 disgorgement, $6,247 interest and a $70,827 penalty, subject to court approval.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$70.8k

Disgorgement

$70.8k

Prejudgment interest

$6.2k

Total relief

$148k

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 that on September 29, 2016 Vacante learned of the FDA recommendation and the same day pressed his broker to sell, cutting the price to make sure it happened. The company announced the withdrawal on October 4, 2016 and the ADRs fell more than 50 percent. He consented to an injunction under Section 17(a), Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5.

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. 2019-02-21 Litigation release published

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

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.