Insider Trading Convictions Tossed on Appeal Due to Juror Bias

A Los Angeles man convicted of six counts of insider trading is getting a new trial after the Ninth Circuit said the district court judge failed to independently investigate the jury foreman’s admitted bias.

The government claimed that Shahriyar Bolandian’s lawyer waived the argument by failing to object to the juror’s service. But defense counsel couldn’t have made a knowing waiver of juror bias in the absence of an independent investigation by the district court, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said Tuesday in a published opinion.

The juror in question told the judge he wasn’t ...