Indian American ex-Equifax employee charged with insider trading

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Indian American Sudhakar Reddy Bonthu, the former software development manager of Equifax, has been charged with insider trading nearly four months after the former chief information officer of the company was accused of similar charges, according to a CNBC report.

According to prosecutors, Bonthu’s insider trading is related to the massive data breach that occurred at Equifax last July and was not exposed to the public until September and affected the records of 143 million people.

Bonthu was fired in March after he refused to cooperate with an internal investigation to find out whether he was initially involved or not.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bonthu was creating a website for consumers who were affected by the breach and had been told that the work was for a client but in fact was for Equifax itself.

SEC told CNBC that Bonthu has agreed to return the $75,000 he made with interest.

“Upon learning about the sales of Equifax shares by Mr. Bonthu, we immediately launched a review of his trading activity and separated him from our company after he declined to cooperate with our inquiry. We are fully cooperating with the SEC and the Department of Justice, and will continue to do so. We take corporate governance and compliance very seriously, and will not tolerate violations of our policies,” Equifax said in a statement.

The investigation is still underway.