A former information technology (IT) executive pleaded guilty today in the Western District of Pennsylvania to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and aiding in the preparation of a false tax return.
According to court documents and his admissions in court, Dayakar Mallu, 51, of Orlando, Florida, admitted that between 2017 and 2019 he conspired with others to trade in the securities of Mylan N.V., a NASDAQ-listed public company, in advance of corporate announcements concerning drug approvals, financial earnings, and a merger. Mallu, who was at the time Vice President of Global Operations Information Technology of Mylan, and an unnamed co-conspirator, who was a Mylan executive, conspired to provide Mallu with material, non-public information in advance of the company’s public announcements. Mallu then placed trades in the company’s securities and shared trading profits with his co-conspirator through cash transactions in India. Mallu’s trading resulted in more than $8 million in unrealized profits and losses avoided; he ultimately realized net profits and losses avoided of more than $4.2 million from his insider trading.
According to court documents and his admissions in court, Mallu also admitted that he sent false information to his tax preparer relating to Opel Systems LLC, a company that he owned and controlled. Specifically, Mallu falsely told the preparer that Opel had paid $1.3 million to a contractor when, in fact, Mallu had caused Opel to transfer those funds to his personal securities brokerage account. Mallu’s false statement resulted in the preparation of a false 2015 corporate return for Opel.
Mallu is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 24, 2022, and faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison for the conspiracy offense and three years in prison for the tax offense. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI Washington Field Office (FBI-WFO); and Acting Special Agent in Charge Brian Thomas of the IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Detroit Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI-WFO and IRS-CI are investigating the case.
Trial Attorney Matthew Reilly and Principal Assistant Chief Justin Weitz of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Trial Attorney Kenneth Vert of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case. The case was previously handled by Trial Attorney Amanda Vaughn and Assistant Chief L. Rush Atkinson, previously of the Fraud Section.
The Fraud Section uses the Victim Notification System (VNS) to provide victims with case information and updates related to this case. Victims with questions may contact the Fraud Section’s Victim Assistance Unit by calling the Victim Assistance phone line at 1-888-549-3945 or by emailing Victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov. To learn more about victims’ rights, please visit https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/Dayakar-Mallu. If you believe you are a victim who has invested in Mylan, please visit https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/case/Dayakar-Mallu.