Ex-accountant at Pasadena business pleads guilty to insider trading

A former employee of a Pasadena business pleaded guilty Friday to insider trading for using non-public information to make nearly $500,000 by selling shares in the company after news of a forthcoming acquisition became public.

Marco Perez, 59, of Glendora, entered his plea to one count of insider trading, a felony that carries a possible sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Sentencing was set for March 8.

Perez was employed as an accounting manager by General Finance Corp., a storage and modular space company, and reported to the company’s chief financial officer. He also performed assignments for the company’s chairman, including printing out the chairman’s emails.

As a result, Perez had access to material information belonging to General Finance, including offers to buy the company, before the information was released to the investing public.

In violation of his fiduciary duties to General Finance and its shareholders, and in violation of company policy against insider trading, in March and April of 2021, Perez purchased a total of 66,585 shares of General Finance stock that he was later able to sell for a total of $1.26 million, according to his plea agreement.

Perez purchased the General Finance stock after reading confidential emails sent to the company’s chairman in early 2021 that concerned the pending sale of General Finance for a price in the range of $19 to $20 per share. Perez paid prices between $10 and $12 for the 66,585 shares he bought.

General Finance was ultimately sold to the Stamford, Connecticut-based United Rentals Inc. On April 15, 2021, United Rentals issued a news release announcing that it was acquiring General Finance for $19 per share. Prior to this announcement, General Finance’s share price closed that day at $12.17. The day after United Rentals’ announcement, the price of General Finance shares surged from $12.17 — the closing price before the announcement — to $19 per share, papers filed in Los Angeles federal court show.

Within two weeks of the announcement, Perez sold all 66,585 shares he had purchased on inside information, netting a profit of about $488,533, according to his plea agreement.

Perez also admitted to tipping off two people about the impending sale of General Finance, which also violated General Finance’s policy against insider trading. Both individuals acted on Perez’s inside information and made profits of $127,140 and $34,867, respectively.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced civil charges last month against Perez stemming from his illegal trading activity.

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