8 foreign nationals charged in Boston in massive insider trading scheme

Federal investigators have accused eight foreign nationals of raking in tens of millions of dollars in illegal profits in a global insider-trading scheme that allegedly ran from 2016 to 2024.

The men, who come from France, Hong Kong, Germany, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates, face securities fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges as part of the alleged insider trading network, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office announced earlier this week.

Prosecutors named the defendants as Samy Fadi Khouadja, 45, of France and the United Arab Emirates; Eamma Safi, 38, of the United Arab Emirates and Germany; Zhi Ge, 34, of Singapore; Christophe Dong, 41, of France; Julien Liu, 35, of France and Hong Kong; Patrick Chou, 38, of France and Hong Kong; Cheuk Yue Lee, 43, of Hong Kong; and Dev Ananth Durai, 39, of Singapore.

Prosecutors first charged Safi and Ge in April 2024, and a federal grand jury in Boston indicted them three months later. Safi is in U.S. custody, while Ge is awaiting extradition from Singapore. The other defendants are considered fugitives, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to prosecutors, Safi, Ge, and Khouadja led the network, which allegedly recruited investment bankers and corporate insiders to provide confidential financial and merger information. As part of the scheme, the men allegedly paid insiders for the tips, traded on the information, and passed it to traders in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, who also profited from it, according to officials.

Prosecutors also allege that the group leaked confidential information to media outlets in an attempt to influence the market in their favor. Many of the trades were routed through an automated trading platform in Massachusetts, according to officials.

Traders in the network — including Dong, Liu, Chou, Lee, and Durai — allegedly paid the leaders kickbacks from their illicit gains, authorities said. Investigators say the payments were disguised through the use of cash transfers, shell companies, sham loans, and fake invoices.

To hide the scheme, the men allegedly used burner phones, coded language, in-person meetings, and encrypted apps, according to prosecutors.

“Protecting the integrity of our nation’s capital markets is a priority of my office,” said U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley. “Today’s charges show that we will aggressively pursue those who engage in insider trading and cheat the system.” 

Foley continued, “No matter how secret you think encrypted messaging is and no matter how many steps you take to conceal your illegal activities, if you sell inside information or trade on non-public information be warned, my office will use every tool at our disposal to track you down and one day, you will find yourself in federal custody.”

Morgan Rousseau is a freelance writer for Boston.com, where she reports on a variety of local and regional news.