Former Allscripts accountant accused of insider trading

SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE

An accountant and former audit director at Allscripts Healthcare Solutions was accused Wednesday of insider trading.

Steven M. Dombrowski, 49, of Chicago, faces 16 counts of securities fraud. The allegations include using nonpublic information to make more than $280,000 from a trading account secretly created in his wife’s name, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Prosecutors say Dombrowski learned on April 20, 2012, his employer’s performance for the first quarter of 2012 would not meet market expectations, six days before the information would be publicly announced. Despite his company issuing a blackout period preventing workers from trading between April 10 and 28, 2012, Dombrowski set up a trading account in his wife’s maiden name, then shorted the stock — or bet against it — and made $286,211 in profits, according to prosecutors.

Throughout April 2012, Dombrowski conducted transactions designed to be profitable if the price of Allscripts stock declined, known as shorting a stock, the indictment alleges.

Each count of securities fraud carries up to 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine, and restitution is mandatory. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of any profits Dombrowski made through the illegal trading. Dombrowski will be arraigned ata latr date.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil action against Dombrowski on Tuesday.