Waltham Man Shares Golfing Pal’s Secrets, Charged with Insider Trading

A Waltham man golfed with a close friend who is a corporate executive and then shared his friend’s insider information with several friends, who used the info to illegally make hundreds of thousands of dollars in the stock market, according to authorities.

Eric McPhail, 41, was indicted on charges of conspiracy and securities fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. One of McPhail’s friends, who authorities said made over $300,000 insider trading, 56-year-old Douglas Parigian, of Lowell, was indicted on the same charges, as well as making false statements to a federal agent in the course of an investigation.

McPhail’s golfing buddy was a senior executive at American Superconductor Corp. (AMSC), a Boston-based energy company. McPhail’s friend trusted McPhail not to share the information about AMSC’s business activities and upcoming earnings announcements and was unaware of the insider trading, according to authorities.

The illegal trading occurred between July 2009 and April 2011, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“For those that think they can get away with insider trading,” Vincent Lisi, special agent in charge of the Boston division, said in a statement, “they should know the government has a variety of safeguards in place to detect possible insider trading through the review of suspiciously timed trades. Once someone gets on the radar screen, no matter how inside information is shared or acted on, whether person to person at a country club with golfing buddies, over the phone to trusted allies or by oneself, the FBI has the tools to investigate and prove the criminal activity.”