The husband of a BP employee has been charged with insider trading in the US following claims he overheard details of calls made by his wife while working from home.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Tyler Loudon made $1.76m in illegal profits.
The regulator claimed Mr Loudon heard several of his wife’s conversations about BP’s takeover of TravelCenters of America and bought shares in the firm.
BP has declined to comment.
His wife – a mergers and acquisitions manager at BP – worked on the oil giant’s takeover of TravelCenters. The SEC said Mr Loudon purchased 46,450 shares of TravelCenters stock, without his wife’s knowledge, before the deal was made public in February last year.
Following the announcement, TravelCenters share price rose nearly 71% and Mr Loudon allegedly immediately sold all of his newly-bought shares for a profit, the SEC said.
In a complaint by the regulator, during deal negotiations between TravelCenters and BP in 2022, Mr Loudon, of Houston, Texas, and his wife worked in home offices within 20 feet of each other.
Mr Loudon confessed to his wife about buying the TravelCenters shares after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority began asking questions about the BP deal and who was “in the know”.
According to the filing, he said he bought the stock because “he wanted to make enough money so that she did not have to work long hours anymore”.
His wife – who was “stunned by this revelation” – reported the trading to her supervisor at BP.
Her email and texts were reviewed by BP and it found no evidence that she knowingly leaked the information about the deal to her husband or knew he had bought the shares.
According to the regulator’s complaint, Mr Loudon’s wife moved out of the house and ceased all contact with him. In June, she initiated divorce proceedings.
