Ex-Pharma Executive Avoids Prison for Tipping Pal On Merger (1)

A former Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. executive avoided jail after pleading guilty to sharing information about the company’s planned purchase of another company in 2020 with a boyhood friend.

Joseph Dupont was sentenced to three years probation with eight months of home detention by US District Judge Gregory Woods at a hearing Friday in New York. Dupont pleaded guilty in September to telling Shawn Cronin about Alexion’s impending acquisition of Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Prosecutors asked the judge to give Dupont around eight months behind bars.

Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams has increased the number of criminal insider trading cases in ...