Market Manipulation. Search

SEC v. Sean Stewart et al. (insider trading, 2017)

Judgment entered

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.

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In September 2017 the SEC announced a final judgment against Robert K. Stewart, a former technology company CFO and CPA accused with his son Sean of serial insider trading through coded emails. Disgorgement of $153,676 and interest were deemed satisfied by criminal forfeiture. The claims against Sean Stewart remained pending.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency SEC
Release number LR-23948
Date filed 2017-09-28
Date resolved 2017-09-28
Court U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Status judgment
Criminal parallel Yes: sentenced (Sean Stewart (convicted at trial, sentenced to three years); Robert Stewart pleaded guilty), U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Bars imposed officer-and-director bar
Defendants Sean Stewart (individual) ; Robert K. Stewart (individual)
Cited as charged or alleged Exchange Act s.10(b) and Rule 10b-5 ; Exchange Act s.14(e) and Rule 14e-3 (statutes and rules cited in the document; not a finding that they were violated)
Techniques Insider trading

What was ordered

Civil penalty
—
Disgorgement
$154k
Prejudgment interest
$11.2k
Total relief
$165k
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 judgment, entered September 27, 2017, enjoins Robert Stewart, holds him liable for disgorgement of $153,675.65 plus $11,240.76 interest, satisfied by the forfeiture order in the parallel criminal case, and imposes a lifetime officer-and-director bar and a suspension from appearing before the SEC as an accountant. He pleaded guilty in the criminal case.

Sean Stewart was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to three years in prison; his conviction was on appeal and the SEC's civil action against him was pending.

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.

Timeline

  1. 2017-09-28 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.

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.

Date filed Agency Record Status
2016-08-18 SEC SEC v. Sean Stewart (insider trading, 2016) Settled
2017-09-28 SEC SEC v. Sean Stewart et al. (insider trading, 2017)(this record) Judgment entered
2019-09-26 SEC SEC v. Sean Stewart, et al. (insider trading, 2019) Settled
2020-08-13 SEC SEC v. Sean R. Stewart et al. (insider trading, 2020) Judgment entered

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.

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

Action Agency Filed Technique Penalty Status
SEC v. Trijya Vakil and Neeraj Visen (insider trading, 2026) SEC 2026-09-04 Insider Trading $109k settled
CFTC v. Gabriel Perez (insider trading, 2026) CFTC 2026-08-28 Insider Trading $65k judgment
SEC v. Gavin Wolfe and others (insider trading, 2026) SEC 2026-08-21 Insider Trading — filed
SEC v. Jesse R. Mitchell (insider trading, 2026) SEC 2026-08-21 Insider Trading — filed
SEBI v. Arun Kumar Somani and others (insider trading review, Indian Oil Corporation, 2026) SEBI (India) 2026-08-13 Insider Trading — dismissed
SEC v. Benjamin Tesfaye (insider trading, 2026) SEC 2026-08-11 Insider Trading $18.7k settled

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.