A British national, Robert Westbrook, has been charged with hacking into multiple public companies to gain insider information, helping him make $3.75 million from stock trades, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Westbrook, 39, was arrested in the U.K. and now faces charges of wire fraud, securities fraud, and computer fraud as the U.S. seeks his extradition.
The charges allege that Westbrook targeted five public companies between January 2019 and August 2020, infiltrating their systems to steal information about upcoming corporate earnings. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that Westbrook gained access by resetting Office365 email passwords of senior executives, using the information obtained to trade stocks ahead of 14 earnings announcements.
To maintain his control over the accounts, Westbrook allegedly set up auto-forwarding rules that sent emails from compromised accounts to his own, ensuring a continuous flow of insider information. This tactic allowed him to exploit the confidential data to his advantage, trading stocks before the earnings reports were made public.
If convicted, Westbrook could face significant prison time for each charge. Jorge Tenreiro, acting chief of the SEC’s crypto assets and cyber unit, noted that Westbrook used anonymous email addresses, VPNs, and Bitcoin transactions to obscure his identity during the scheme. In addition to criminal charges, the SEC is seeking civil penalties and demanding Westbrook return the $3.75 million he illegally gained.
Westbrook’s case is the latest in a series of hack-and-trade schemes. Last year, Russian national Vladislav Klyushin was sentenced to nine years in prison after a similar scheme earned him around $93 million in illicit profits. Klyushin was later involved in a high-profile prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia, which included Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, veteran Paul Whelan, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.
These cases highlight the increasing intersection of cybercrime and financial markets, with hackers exploiting weaknesses in corporate cybersecurity to profit from non-public information. The U.S. government, in partnership with international authorities, continues to crack down on such schemes to protect market integrity and hold perpetrators accountable.
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