John Lowe, of Sayville, pleads guilty to insider trading scheme that netted $1 million in illegal profits

A Sayville man, nicknamed "Clams," has pleaded guilty to securities fraud for his role in a six-year insider trading scheme.

John Lowe, 63, and two co-conspirators made an illegal profit of more than $1 million. The trio traded stock in public companies based on information that wasn’t available to the public at the time the trades were made, according to a federal indictment.

The trades involved secondary offerings in companies such as Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment Inc., Revelation Biosciences Inc. and Tivic Health Systems Inc., the indictment states.

Lowe made an illicit profit of at least $500,000 on at least 200 stock offerings, according to the indictment.

He pleaded guilty on Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Taryn A. Merkl in Brooklyn federal court and faces up to 20 years in prison.

Lowe couldn’t be reached for comment but his attorney Lawrence V. Carrà said Lowe regrets his actions.

"He didn't realize the extreme consequences of his action at the time. But of course, now he recognizes and accepts that he has committed a criminal act," Carrà told Newsday on Monday night.

Lowe, who, his attorney said, is a day trader, and two other investors received nonpublic information from two stockbrokers: David Cooper, of upstate Larchmont, and an unnamed individual from Hampton Bays. Lowe and the other investors used the information between January 2018 and May 2024 to trade in advance of secondary stock offerings, according to the indictment. 

The stockbrokers got the information from investment banks involved in and underwriting the stock offerings. Both brokers worked at a brokerage with offices in Uniondale and New York City, the indictment states.

Cooper, 40, pleaded guilty to securities fraud in September. His attorney, Zach Intrater, declined to comment on Tuesday.

The information supplied by the stockbrokers included the identity of the public company that was issuing the shares, the timing and structure of the deal, and the price at which the company would offer its stock for.

The brokers provided the information to induce Lowe and other clients to buy the stock so the brokers’ employer would be compensated by the underwriters — and the brokers would share in that compensation, according to the indictment.

In some instances, Lowe obtained the information and then passed it on to his fellow investors in coded telephone conversations to escape detection, the indictment states.

One investor, Richard Ringel, 56, of Boca Raton, Florida, pleaded guilty to securities fraud on Monday in the same Brooklyn courtroom as Lowe.

Ringel's attorney, Scott Leemon, said Tuesday that his client has "accepted full responsibility for his actions and looks forward to putting this matter behind him."

Another investor, Randy Grewal, 55, of Anthem, Arizona, pleaded guilty to securities fraud in April. His attorney didn't respond to a request for comment.

After Monday’s court hearing, Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said, "For years, the defendants brazenly exploited their access to inside information to gain an unfair advantage over the investing public. Insider trading destroys the public’s faith in the fairness and integrity of our markets."

He vowed to continue to prosecute those who engage in insider trading.

Besides the U.S. Department of Justice, the six-year insider trading scheme was brought down by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and securities industry regulator Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Pete Gizas, acting special agent in charge in the New York office of Homeland Security Investigations, said the scheme "corrupted the markets for [the defendants’] own gain and generated more than a million dollars in illicit profit."

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.