Ex-FBI Trainee Pleads Guilty to Trades on Girlfriend’s Deal Info

A former Federal Bureau of Investigation trainee pleaded guilty to trading on confidential information about Merck & Co.’s acquisition of Pandion Therapeutics from his former girlfriend while the two were living together during the pandemic.

Seth Markin pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of securities fraud in federal court in Manhattan under an agreement with prosecutors, confessing that he gleaned details about the takeover from documents his girlfriend was sent by her law firm in January 2021. His former girlfriend, a lawyer, wasn’t accused of wrongdoing.

Prosecutors allege that Markin made more than $1.4 million trading on the ...