On Monday, Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum of the SDNY ordered that the criminal insider trading trial of former Ernst & Young partner James Gansman will begin on April 13, 2009. Reuters reports that prosecutors allege that Gansman, who worked at E&Y in New York until October 2007, tipped off a friend about pending deals involving the firm’s clients, including the $17.6 billion buyout of Freescale Semiconductor.
Gansman’s friend Donna Murdoch, an investment banker in Philadelphia, allegedly used the tips to generate more than $390,000 in trading profits. She will be tried on the same 11 counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy as Gansman. Both individuals were indicted in May and have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Both are presently free on bail.
