SEC v. Thomas D. Melvin, et al. (insider trading, 2016)

Settled

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The SEC announced on July 25, 2016 a consent final judgment against registered representative Michael Cain, one of the defendants in its 2012 Chattem insider-trading case. Cain's judgment of July 20, 2016 followed a consent judgment against accountant Thomas Melvin in August 2013; the case against other defendants went on.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$146k

Disgorgement

$61.8k

Prejudgment interest

$7k

Total relief

$215k

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 July 25, 2016 as release LR-23601. The respondents named are Thomas D. Melvin and Michael Sean Cain (2 individuals, 0 entities). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia.

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 relief recorded in our data is a civil monetary penalty of $36,991. Penalty and disgorgement are distinct: disgorgement returns the gain, while the penalty is punitive. We store them separately so that aggregate figures across the library are not double-counted.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

SEC release 23601 reports that on July 20, 2016 the Northern District of Georgia entered a final judgment, by consent, against Cain enjoining him from insider trading and ordering civil penalties of $36,991.20. A final judgment against Melvin, filed August 14, 2013 on his consent, finds him liable for disgorgement of $36,991.20 (jointly with Cain) plus $24,840.75 (jointly with another defendant, Joel Jinks), prejudgment interest of $4,181.37 and $2,813.22 on those parts, and a civil penalty of $108,930.05. The money fields sum those figures. The underlying action was filed in August 2012, so this record's filed date reflects the 2016 release and the resolution date used here is the release date, five days after the judgment was entered. These outcomes cover Melvin and Cain only; the SEC's case against other defendants in the same action was still going when the release was issued, and a March 2017 release reports a jury verdict against one of them. 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. 2016-07-25 Litigation release published
2. 2013-08-14 Consent final judgment against Thomas D. Melvin (as dated on the judgment)
3. 2016-07-20 Consent final judgment against Michael S. Cain (SEC LR-23601)

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
• Final judgment as to Melvin (Aug. 14, 2013)
• SEC litigation release 23766 (jury verdict against other defendants)

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.