Menu

Search

  |   Governance

Menu

  |   Governance

Search

SEC Moves to Dismiss Insider Trading Case Against Trump-Pardoned Terren Peizer

SEC Moves to Dismiss Insider Trading Case Against Trump-Pardoned Terren Peizer. Source: Richard Bett, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is moving to dismiss its civil insider trading lawsuit against Terren Peizer, the former Ontrak CEO who was convicted in a landmark federal insider trading case before receiving a pardon from President Donald Trump.

Peizer, 65, founded healthcare company Ontrak and previously served as its chief executive. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice charged him with insider trading, while the SEC brought parallel civil charges over the same stock transactions.

Federal authorities alleged that Peizer sold more than $20 million worth of Ontrak shares between May and August 2021 while possessing material non-public information about problems involving the healthcare company's largest customer.

The prosecution drew particular attention because it became the first criminal insider trading case involving the alleged misuse of a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Such pre-arranged stock-selling programs are intended to allow corporate executives and other insiders to schedule transactions in advance and reduce concerns that trades were based on confidential information.

In 2024, a federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Peizer on two counts of insider trading and one count of securities fraud. He was sentenced in 2025 to three and a half years in prison.

Trump pardoned Peizer in January 2026, clearing the criminal consequences of his conviction. The SEC's decision to seek dismissal of its separate civil enforcement action represents another significant development in the case.

Peizer also has longstanding ties to Michael Milken, the financier once widely known as Wall Street's "junk bond king." Peizer was considered a protege of Milken, who pleaded guilty to securities-related offenses and served roughly two years in prison.

Trump pardoned Milken in 2020 during his first presidential term.

The pardons have attracted criticism from opponents who argue that Trump's clemency decisions involving people convicted of financial crimes contrast with his administration's tougher approach to alleged fraud in other areas, including immigration enforcement.

The SEC's move to dismiss the Terren Peizer lawsuit effectively brings the regulator's high-profile civil insider trading case closer to an end.

  • Market Data
Close

Welcome to EconoTimes

Sign up for daily updates for the most important
stories unfolding in the global economy.