SEC v. Sepehr Sarshar (insider trading, 2020)

Settled

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In August 2020 the SEC charged Sepehr Sarshar, a founder and former board member of Auspex Pharmaceuticals, with insider trading ahead of Teva's tender offer. On 5 May 2022 the Southern District of New York entered a final consent judgment barring future violations of the tender-offer fraud rule and ordering a US$56,222 penalty.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$56.2k

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$56.2k

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 Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on August 25, 2020 as release LR-24876. The respondents named are Sepehr Sarshar (1 individual, 0 entities). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.

This library tags the matter as insider trading, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

The release references a parallel criminal proceeding. Where a criminal case exists, the civil and criminal outcomes are recorded separately, because they resolve on different standards of proof.

Outcome. SEC release LR-25387 says that on 5 May 2022 the court entered a final judgment by consent. It permanently enjoins Sarshar from violating Section 14(e) of the Exchange Act and Rule 14e-3 and orders a civil penalty of US$56,222. The release does not mention any disgorgement. The allegations in the complaint, that he passed confidential tender-offer information to friends and family who traded Auspex stock, were resolved by consent rather than by a trial finding.

What the source does not show: the criminal case referred to in the original release is not discussed in the 2022 release, so no criminal outcome or sentence is recorded here.

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. 2020-08-25 Litigation release published
2. 2022-05-05 Final consent judgment entered (SEC LR-25387, published 9 May 2022)

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 LR-25387 (final judgment)

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.