Leakage of inside information by a former JPMorgan analyst

A former JPMorgan Chase analyst and two friends were charged on Tuesday in an alleged insider trading scheme that netted more than $670,000 in illicit profits, the Department of Justice said.

Ashish Aggarwal, a 27-year-old UC Berkeley graduate, worked as a Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) analyst at JPMorgan Securities in San Francisco from June 2011 until June 2013.

In 2012 and 2013, Aggarwal allegedly obtained material nonpublic information about two separate acquisitions in the technology sector that his team was working on and shared that information with his "close friend" Shahriyar Bolandian.

Based on that information, Bolandian, 26, allegedly placed trades on his own account and trading accounts belonging to his sister and father, netting a $453,000 profit, according to the SEC complaint.

Bolandian also shared the material information with a friend and colleague, 28-year-old Kevan Sadigh, who also traded on the information making around $219,000.

According to the DOJ, each defendant faces one count of conspiracy to commit securities and tender offer fraud, 13 substantive counts of securities fraud, 13 substantive counts of tender offer fraud and three substantive counts of wire fraud. Bolandian also faces one count of money laundering.