SEC v. Thomas Earl Hayden (insider trading, 2018)

Settled

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In September 2018 the SEC settled proceedings against Monster Beverage employee Thomas Hayden II, his father and a family friend over trading before Monster's Coca-Cola deal announcement, which produced $197,814 in profits. Together they must pay $197,814 disgorgement, $28,627 interest and $298,261 in penalties.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$298k

Disgorgement

$198k

Prejudgment interest

$28.6k

Total relief

$525k

Alleged gain

$198k

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 Commission found that Hayden, aware that a deal with Coke was imminent, bought 4,250 Monster shares two days before the August 14, 2014 announcement and tipped his father, who bought stock, and family friend John Ryan McDaniel, who bought stock and options. The share price rose 30 percent the next day.

Hayden must pay disgorgement of $97,367.01, interest of $14,090.70 and a penalty of $197,814.02; Hayden Sr. $22,266.31, $3,222.26 and $22,266.31; McDaniel $78,180.70, $11,314.01 and $78,180.70. The earlier record showed only Hayden's penalty and disgorgement; the stored figures are now the sums.

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. 2018-09-27 Administrative proceeding instituted (cease-and-desist)

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 order

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.