Karen and David Zilkha's marriage ended in messy divorce proceedings that included spousal abuse, restraining orders, an ongoing battle over their nine-year old twins and a SEC investigation. Their marriage began in 1998 in Washington State where Mr. Zilkha worked for Microsoft. By 2001 the family had moved to Connecticut and a new job for Mr. Zhilka as a trader with hedge fund Pequot Capital Management. By 2003 their marriage was over and the divorce wars began. Eventually the financial aspects of their divorce were completed with Ms. Zilkha receiving $750,000.00 in assets including the family home. The conflict started up again in 2008 when child support was to be reviewed. Mr. Zilkha filed updated financial information which included disclosure of a sum of $2.1 million. His ex-wife and her lawyer were mystified about the emergence of this asset, but then Ms. Zilkha remembered that before the collapse of the marriage, her husband had told her that he was negotiating a payment from Pequot. Ms. Zilkha's attorney knew that her client had kept the family computer and wondered if there was information about this money in old emails. What she found turned the case from a high conflict divorce case to a Securities Exchange Commission investigation of insider trading. Emails retrieved from the computer hard drive provided proof that Mr. Zilkha had obtained confidential information from a former colleague at Microsoft that led to Pequot selling Microsoft shares with a payout to Pequot of $14 million. Investigators at the SEC had long suspected that Mr. Zilkha had been involved in insider trading but with no "smoking gun" the investigation had languished. CEO of Pequot, Arthur Samberg and Pequot paid fines and penalties to settle the case amounting to $28 million. Mr. Samberg, once the world's largest hedge fund manager, sold the assets of Pequot and shut it down. Mr. Zilkha faces administrative charges with respect to his role as "tipper". Did Ms. Zilkha eventually get her child support? Don't know, but under new legislation she received a reward of $1 million from the SEC for providing the evidence that was needed to convict. Lawdiva aka Georgialee Lang Share this: Email Print StumbleUpon Facebook Like this: Be the first to like this post.
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