(
)
After less than seven hours of deliberations, jurors found a lobster-loving former consultant at an expert-networking firm guilty of insider-trading charges in a trial that had one juror so disgusted with Wall Street “corruption” that she lost her appetite for weeks.
Winifred Jiau, a former technology executive and consultant to Mountain View, Calif., firm Primary Global Research, was convicted in Manhattan federal court yesterday of securities fraud and conspiracy for feeding confidential tips about technology companies to hedge funds.
“I hope that hedge funds will be re-examined. There’s a lot of corruption,” Susan Kohlmeyer, a Westchester art teacher, told reporters following the verdict, according to Reuters.
“I was full of despair. I lost my appetite for three weeks,” the forewoman of the 12-person jury said.
Jiau received more than $200,000 from PGR between 2006 and 2008, while passing on confidential tips about Nvidia Corp. and Marvell Technology to hedge fund traders, including Noah Freeman, formerly of SAC Capital Management and Boston hedge fund Sonar Capital.
Freeman, who pleaded guilty and cooperated with the government, said he lavished gifts on Jiau for her “absolutely perfect” tips, including a $300 gift certificate to the Cheesecake Factory and 12 lobsters for Thanksgiving in 2007, which Jiau requested but then left to die at the FedEx office.
Jiau, a 43-year-old resident of Fremont, Calif., faces up to 25 years in prison when she is sentenced on Sept. 21. The Taiwan native has been in custody since her arrest in December because she was deemed a flight risk.
Despite the jurors’ ugly reaction to Jiau — nicknamed “The Poohster” by Freeman, after Winnie the Pooh — her lawyer, Joanna Hendon, promised to appeal the decision.
Jiau’s guilty verdict keeps intact Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara’s unblemished record in insider trading cases.
Earlier this year, Bharara won the conviction of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam on all 14 counts of insider trading and conspiracy. Last week, he won convictions against three other traders, including ex-Galleon trader Zvi Goffer.