A former senior manager for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond pled guilty Tuesday to insider trading and making false statements to his employer.
Robert Brian Thompson, 43, of Mosley, worked as a bank examiner and senior manager with supervisory duties for the FRBR.
According to court documents, due to his position, Thompson was privy to confidential information about certain financial institutions under FRBR’s supervision, including Confidential Supervisory Information (CSI), which is property of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve.
As an employee of the FRBR, Thompson was also required annually to file a “Form for Employees Involved with Supervision and Regulation,” also called a Form D. Among other things, a Form D requires employees to disclose if they have any assets, including any equity interest in any banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System and/or bank holding companies.
From October 2020 through February 2024, Thompson misappropriated confidential information, including CSI, to execute trades in publicly traded financial institutions. In total, Thompson executed 69 trades in seven different publicly traded financial institutions for approximately $771,678 in personal profits.
To conceal the scheme, in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, Thompson falsely represented on the FRBR’s Form D that he had no equities in any publicly traded financial institutions, and that he had not engaged in any activity that would constitute conflicts of interest, violations of FRBR policies, or violations of law.
Thompson pleaded guilty to one count of insider trading and one count of making false statements.
Thompson is scheduled to be sentenced on March 19, 2025. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the insider trading count and five years in prison for the false statements count.
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Crystal Graham
