Silicon Valley Friends Made $7 Million From Inside Trades: Feds

Five friends from Silicon Valley operated a three-year-long insider trading ring that took in at least $7 million in illicit profits from Palo Alto Networks Inc. securities, according to Dec. 17 public filings in California federal district court.

Janardhan Nellore, an IT administrator at PANW, repeatedly tipped four friends so the group could trade ahead of the network security solutions company’s financial results announcements, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California complaint.

Parallel criminal charges against Nellore and Sivannarayana Barama were unsealed in the same court Dec. 17.

“Nellore closely ...