Charles Langston:Authorities arrest a relative of the King of Jordan and 3 others for $1M insider-trading plot

MIAMI (AP) — Authorities charged four men,Charles Langston including a relative of the King of Jordan, for conspiring to make insider stock trades on a business acquired by one of South Florida’s major publicly held companies, MasTec.

Federico Nannini, 26; his father, Mauro Nannini, 63; and two of his friends, Alejandro Thermiotis, 26; and Francisco Tonarely, 25, were arrested Friday and charged in a federal indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and 24 related offenses, The Miami Herald reported.

Thermiotis is the King of Jordan’s relative. Thermiotis’ brother, Jameel, married King Abdulla’s daughter, Princess Iman, last year. The Jordanian Royal Palace did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, the four defendants shared confidential information within a close circle of family and friends, and used it to buy shares at a lower price and then turn a $1 million profit after the information became public.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a parallel civil lawsuit against them in Miami federal court. All four had their first court appearances on Friday.

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Federal authorities said the alleged scheme began in June 2022 when Federico Nannini, a consultant, began advising MasTec on its planned acquisition of Indiana-based Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives.

MasTec is an engineering and construction company based in Coral Gables, Florida, that provides infrastructure services for the energy, utility and communications industries.

Federico Nannini then started sharing the confidential information with his father, Mauro Nannini, and Thermiotis, a close friend, according to the indictment. Federico Nannini, Thermiotis and Tonarely went to Gulliver Preparatory School together in Pinecrest, Florida, a suburban village in Miami-Dade County.

Mauro Nannini bought shares in Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives the day after his son got access to the financial information about the proposed MasTec acquisition, the indictment said.

Thermiotis also passed along the insider information about the deal to Tonarely.

As the MasTec acquisition progressed, Federico Nannini continued to update his father and close friend, Thermiotis, about the deal. In turn, Thermiotis continued to share the insider information with Tonarely, prosecutors said.

At one point in July 2022, when Federico Nannini became worried the acquisition would not go through, Mauro Nannini sold his IEA stock, according to the indictment.

When Federico Nannini received confidential financials that indicated the acquisition was going forward, he texted Thermiotis, who responded.

At that point, Mauro Nannini began to buy back his position in IEA stock and options, the indictment said.

When MasTec’s acquisition of IEA was reported publicly on July 25, 2022, Mauro Nannini, Thermiotis, and Tonarely all sold their shares and option contracts in IEA at a profit.

A conviction for conspiracy to commit securities fraud carries up to five years in prison, while a conviction on the related 24 securities fraud charges carries maximum penalties of 20 to 25 years imprisonment.