Former COO Sentenced to Prison for Selling Confidential Information

BOSTON – A Connecticut executive was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Boston on charges that he sold confidential business information regarding the wireless industry to an analyst at a Boston-based financial services firm. 

James Dunham, 60, of Glastonbury, Conn., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to five months in prison and five months of home confinement, three years of supervised release, a fine of $15,000, and forfeiture of $61,000.  In June 2015, Dunham pleaded guilty to wire fraud after being arrested and charged in February.

Dunham, formerly the Chief Operating Officer of a retailer for a major provider of wireless services, had access to confidential information regarding sales, compensation, and product launches at the retailer’s 400 locations.  For more than two years, and unbeknownst to his employer, Dunham had a secret consulting agreement with a financial services firm to provide confidential information in return for which he was paid $2,000 per month.

The charging document to which Dunham pleaded guilty identifies seven research notes prepared and distributed by the financial services firm that include information supplied by Dunham, including information regarding the status of certain product launches, the number of new subscribers to a specific wireless provider, and sales and return information for specific smartphones.  In particular, Dunham was the source for an April 11, 2013, research note in which the firm reported that sales for a specific smartphone were running below customers’ returns of the same smartphone.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today.  The United States Attorney’s Office also received valuable assistance from the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah E. Walters, Chief of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.