Who Is Bryan Cohen? Former Goldman Sachs Investment Banker Pleads Guilty To Insider Trading

Fired Goldman Sachs Vice President Bryan Cohen pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges Tuesday, admitting he passed confidential information as part of an insider trading ring.

The plea came in the same New York courthouse where another member of the ring, Telemaque Lavidas, was being tried on charges he stole inside information from U.S. biotechnology firm Ariad Pharmaceuticals where his father was on the board.

Cohen, 33, was arrested in October and accused of passing tips about pending mergers stolen from Goldman to a trader in Switzerland. Agents found $24,000 in cash in a sunglasses case in his New York apartment, and initially he was placed under house arrest and $250,000 bond. That bond was tripled after prosecutors alleged he had not disclosed all of his assets.

Cohen was scheduled to go on trial Feb.4.

Cohen pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and faces a possible sentence of five years in prison.

U.S. attorney-appointed prosecutor Audrey Strauss said Cohen had access to secret information as part of his job in Goldman’s investment banking division, first in the London office and then in New York.

“Between 2015 and 2017, Cohen stole [confidential information] from [Goldman] and passed it to a securities trader based in Switzerland in order to enable the securities trader to place timely, profitable trades based on the [information],” Strauss said in announcing the plea.

“Cohen informed the securities trader about corporate acquisitions and provided updates about how the deals were progressing over time.”

Some of the leaked information involved Syngenta AG and Buffalo Wild Wings Inc., court documents showed.

Strauss said some of the information pertained to companies listed on U.S. exchanges and “ultimately resulted in substantial profits for the traders who received it and traded based on it.” Cohen shared in the profits, reported to be in the tens of millions of dollars, and attempted to conceal the scheme through the use of prepaid “burner” cellphones, Strauss said.

Cohen attorney Benjamin Brafman said his client had accepted responsibility for his actions and should receive a “relatively lenient” sentence.

Four others have been charged: Greek businessman Georgios Nikas; securities trader Joseph El-Khouri, who lives in London and Monaco; and former investment bankers Benjamin Taylor of Moelis & Co., who is believed to be in France, and Darina Windsor of Centerview Partners LLC, who is believed to be in Thailand.

Swiss trader Marc Demane-Debih was arrested in Serbia last year, extradited to the U.S. and has pleaded guilty. El-Khouri was arrested in London in October and has been fighting extradition.

Cohen had been with Goldman for nearly a decade.