Reported by: Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California

Oakland registered investment advisor was charged in a federal information filed today with securities fraud for trading upon non-public inside information, announced United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Sean Ragan.

According to the information filed in Oakland federal court, registered investment advisor, John Mendes, 39, formerly of Oakland, is a registered representative and investment adviser who learned non-public information from his friend, identified in the information only as “Insider One.”  At the time of the allegations in the information, Insider One worked for Granite Construction, Inc. (Granite), a construction materials company headquartered in Watsonville, California.  Granite focuses on large scale public and private infrastructure projects and is traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange.  Granite negotiated with and eventually acquired another company in 2018 that also traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

The information alleges that from approximately November 2016 through February 2018, in the course of their friendship Insider One disclosed material nonpublic information to Mendes about Granite’s potential acquisition of Layne before that information was available to the public.

Read full report: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/oakland-investment-advisor-charged-securities-fraud