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SEC seeks dismissal of insider trading case against Terren Peizer
The SEC is moving to dismiss charges tied to Peizer after a federal jury convicted him in 2024 for insider trading and he later received a presidential pardon.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it is moving to dismiss an insider trading lawsuit against Terren Peizer, a former healthcare executive who was convicted by a federal jury in 2024 and then pardoned by President Donald Trump, according to Reuters. Peizer, 65, founded and previously led Ontrak and was charged by the Department of Justice in 2023 alongside civil insider trading claims brought by the SEC, the outlet reported. Authorities described the case as groundbreaking because it was the first criminal matter involving a pre-arranged stock selling program intended to help shield executives from such charges.
Prosecutors said Peizer sold more than $20 million of Ontrak stock between May and August 2021 while he possessed material non public negative information related to the company’s largest customer. A federal jury in Los Angeles found him guilty of two counts of insider trading and one count of securities fraud.
Reuters also noted that in 2020 Trump pardoned Michael Milken, who had pleaded guilty to securities fraud and served about two years in prison, while critics and rights advocates have argued such pardons show double standards.