Five people have been charged for their alleged roles in a scheme that involved using confidential CMS information to engage in insider trading, according to the Department of Justice.
David Blaszczak, a political intelligence consultant, Christopher Worrall, a CMS employee, and two analysts at a healthcare-focused hedge fund in New York City were arrested this week for their alleged involvement in the scheme, and the Department of Justice unsealed charges Wednesday against a third analyst.
The government charged Mr. Blaszczak with obtaining confidential information from Mr. Worrall and other CMS employees and then providing the information to the hedge fund analysts, who allegedly recommended trades based on the information. For example, in May 2012, Mr. Blaszczak allegedly obtained confidential information about CMS' planned radiation oncology reimbursement cuts from Mr. Worrall and then passed the information along to the analysts. The hedge reaped more than $3.5 million from the scheme, which ran from 2012 through 2014, according to the DOJ.
Mr. Worrall worked in the Center for Medicare's Director's Office, which gave him access to CMS' confidential deliberations about upcoming reimbursement decisions. He also had access to CMS' most up-to-date claims data in his role as project manager for a confidential CMS database, according to the DOJ.
Each of the defendants is charged with conspiracy to convert property of the U.S. to commit securities fraud and defraud the U.S., conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, conversion of property of the U.S., securities fraud and wire fraud.
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