SEC v. Zavodchiko et al. (hack to trade, 2016)

Judgment entered

✓ Checked against the primary document on October 4, 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.

Report an error in this record (sec-zavodchiko-et-al-hack-to-trade-2016) by email

In February 2016 the SEC charged five individuals and four entities with trading on earnings releases stolen from newswire services by hackers. On July 31, 2019 a New Jersey federal court granted default judgment against eight of them for about $19.4 million in disgorgement, $1.1 million in prejudgment interest and $58.1 million in penalties.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$58.1m

Disgorgement

$19.4m

Prejudgment interest

$1.1m

Total relief

$78.6m

Alleged gain

$19.5m

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 filed this matter on February 17, 2016; the release announcing it is dated February 18, 2016 (release LR-23471). The respondents named are Evgenii Zavodchiko and 8 others (5 individuals, 4 entities). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey.

This library tags the matter as hack to trade, 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.

The court's order of July 31, 2019 (District of New Jersey) granted the SEC's motion for default judgment against Zavodchikov, Bokarev, Panko, Alepko and Maslov and the entities Extra Trading Company, Green Road Corporation and Solar Line Inc., who had not answered the complaint. It awarded disgorgement, prejudgment interest and penalties in four groups: Zavodchikov and Extra Trading (jointly) $2,120,618, $69,889.75 and $6,361,854; Bokarev, Panko and Green Road (jointly) $3,161,160, $145,369.75 and $9,483,480; Alepko and Solar Line (jointly) $4,426,507, $344,030.60 and $13,279,521; and Maslov $9,653,814, $571,246.31 and $28,961,442. The money fields on this page add those four groups. The order as read does not mention the ninth named defendant, Tarek Investors Inc., so this page does not say how the case ended for it. The defendants did not contest the claims, so the judgment rests on the SEC's unanswered allegations as accepted by the court rather than on a trial. The order's amounts are liabilities imposed, not amounts collected. 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.

• Hack to trade — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2016-02-17 Complaint filed (D.N.J., No. 2:16-cv-00845)
2. 2019-07-31 Default judgment against eight defendants (disgorgement, interest, penalties)

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
• Order granting default judgment (July 31, 2019)

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 20, 2026. submit a correction.