Connecticut business woman charged with insider trading

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission building in Washington. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission building in Washington. Photo: Andrew Harnik, Associated Press Photo: Andrew Harnik, Associated Press Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Connecticut business woman charged with insider trading 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

A 65-year-old Watertown woman has been charged by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission with being part of an insider trading scheme involving the former chief executive officer of a New Jersey-based payment processing company.

Katherine M. Hanratty was charged Tuesday in the case along with her longtime boyfriend, 73-year-old Robert O. Carr of New Hampshire. Carr is former chief executive officer of Heartland Payment System, which he founded in Princeton, N.J., in 1996.

The SEC’s complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court in New Haven, alleges Carr provided Hanratty with confidential information about Heartland Payment System being acquired by Global Payments, an Atlanta-based processing company, in advance of the deal being announced on Dec. 15, 2015. Carr allegedly then gave Hanratty $1 million to open a brokerage account and instructed her to use almost all of the funds to purchase Heartland stock.

Hanratty purchased more than 11,000 shares of Heartland stock, the price of which rose substantially after the deal was announced. The couple allegedly made more than $250,000 in illicit profits after the stock was sold off to complete the transaction.

Global Payments’ acquisition of Heartland was completed on April 25, 2016.

Hanratty, president and co-owner of Middlebury-based Jaci Carroll Staffing, and Carr became romantically involved in 2011, according to the complaint.

Over a period of time, Hanratty repeatedly expressed concern to Carr regarding her financial security and, in March 2015, while the couple was vacationing in Mexico, he offered to give her some money. Hanratty declined the offer, according to the complaint.

The SEC complaint asks the court to order Hanratty and Carr to pay back the money they made as a result of the insider trading scheme and to impose financial penalties against them. The complaint also asks the court to bar Carr from ever serving as a corporate officer or director of any company overseen by the SEC.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com