SEC v. Thomas W. Avent, Jr., et al. (insider trading, 2019)

Judgment entered

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In August 2019 the SEC reported that a federal jury in Atlanta found broker Raymond Pirrello liable for insider trading ahead of three acquisitions on tips from accounting partner Thomas Avent, via Lawrence Penna, whose family made at least $107,922. Avent and Penna had settled earlier. The release states no remedy.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

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Alleged gain

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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's evidence showed that Avent, a tax partner at an international accounting firm, gave Pirrello confidential information about the Radiant Systems, Midas and BrightPoint acquisitions, and that Pirrello tipped his friend Penna, who traded in all three and shared at least $21,500 with Pirrello. The jury found violations of Sections 10(b) and 14(e) and the related rules on all counts. Remedies were to be decided later.

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. 2019-08-15 Litigation release published

Primary documents

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• 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.

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.