Federal prosecutors in Manhattan say a New York City broker turned confidential Wall Street deal chatter into a personal trading goldmine, and then tried to cover his tracks when regulators closed in.
An indictment unsealed on March 30, 2026 charges Ronald Smith, a Manhattan-based broker, with securities fraud, wire fraud, falsification of records and conspiracy in an alleged insider-trading scheme. Prosecutors say Smith siphoned confidential deal information from an investment bank, then traded on it for himself, his girlfriend and select brokerage clients, racking up millions in illicit profits. The government ties trades in Score Media & Gaming and VMware to the alleged tips and says Smith later scrambled to hide what was going on once regulators started asking questions.
“The hallmarks of our world-leading securities markets are transparency and fairness,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Insider trading undermines those principles, and our Office will pursue insider traders vigorously.”
— U.S. Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) March 30, 2026
Indictment Details Alleged Trading Haul
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York and an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court, the government alleges that Smith, a 37-year-old former registered broker, and a co-worker placed trades that generated roughly $484,000 in Smith’s accounts on Score and about $47,000 on VMware. Client accounts, prosecutors say, realized nearly $5 million, while the brokers collected about $500,000 in commissions.
The filing charges multiple counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, falsifying records and conspiracy. Prosecutors say Smith also supplied false written answers and misleading testimony to FINRA when regulators began probing the suspicious trading. “The hallmarks of our world-leading securities markets are transparency and fairness,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement, repeating the warning that insider trading will be pursued “vigorously.”
How Prosecutors Say The Tips Traveled
Prosecutors trace the alleged scheme back to a man identified as Steven Teixeira. According to the indictment, Teixeira secretly accessed his then-girlfriend’s work laptop while she was working remotely, copied confidential investment-banking files and walked off with material that should never have left the firm.
Teixeira allegedly passed those files to a friend, who in turn relayed the information to broker Jordan Meadow. Meadow then shared the tips with Smith, the indictment says, and the three bought options and steered clients into the same securities. At one point, according to prosecutors, the defendants even talked about thanking their information sources with luxury gifts such as Rolex watches in exchange for the nonpublic deal intel.
Why The Score Deal Was The Big Payday
The alleged jackpot, prosecutors say, came from trading in Score Media & Gaming. In early August 2021, Penn National announced it would acquire Score, a deal that sent Score’s stock sharply higher and turned the traders’ existing positions into fast gains, according to Penn National.
The court filings link specific purchases and options trades to the days immediately surrounding those public disclosures, when Score’s share price and related option values swung dramatically.
Legal Stakes And What Comes Next
On paper, Smith faces statutory maximum sentences on the various counts that could add up to decades in prison, although any actual term will be decided by a judge at sentencing. The U.S. Attorney’s Office credited the FBI with investigative work and said the SEC has filed a parallel civil case. Smith was scheduled to be presented before a magistrate judge in Manhattan, and the criminal matter has been assigned to a federal district judge.
Prosecutors say the indictment highlights their ongoing focus on policing market misconduct and shows how remote access to workplace files during the pandemic era can create fresh avenues for stealing material nonpublic information. They have signaled they intend to keep pursuing insider-trading cases aggressively.
