Devlin walked away with a light sentence as he cooperated with the authorities (sometimes wearing a recording device) and helped the authorities convict four persons and obtain civil judgment against two others in insider trading cases.
William Pauley, the U.S. District Judge who sentenced Devlin to three years' probation commented “He betrayed the trust of everyone … All of it completely tragic and senseless for a sum of money that to his benefit was a rounding error in his compensation.”
Devlin, who was in tears, told the judge that his conduct was “reckless, selfish and inexcusable.” While sentencing Devlin, the court also took into account the facts that Devlin is now the primary care provider for the couple's three-year old son, and that he did not have any career left in the industry. He betrayed his wife for a paltry sum, and was compelled to betray his friends in crime later to save his own skin.
Devlin's crime was exposed in December 2008 by the media with details of his betrayal of his wife, Nina Devlin, who was a public relations executive. Nina was an executive at Brunswick Group and worked with clients on mergers and acquisitions. She is no longer working at the firm, though she is not accused of any wrongdoing.
The information that Devlin traded was obtained by listening to his wife's conversations and assessing the implications of her travel schedule. The illegally obtained information included deals like the acquisition of Novartis AG by Eon Labs in 2005, InBev's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, and Electronic Arts Inc's hostile bid in 2008 for Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.
Though Devlin received only a paltry sum in exchange of his betrayal of the trust of his wife, four of his friends made millions trading on the inside information. The office of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney requested the court to be lenient towards Devlin considering his role in helping to convict the four persons.
The other four who pleaded guilty were Miami day traders Jamil Bouchareb, Daniel Corbin, Frederick Bowers, and Eric Holzer – a former tax lawyer at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in New York.
The case is USA v Devlin, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 08-01307.
