NEW YORK — An employee of a major international law firm was arrested Thursday on charges that he used confidential client information to trade ahead of corporate deal announcements, federal prosecutors said.
Chetram Balli, 54, of Hollis, Queens, allegedly earned more than $70,000 from trades between April 2025 and October 2026, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
A criminal complaint unsealed in Brooklyn federal court charges Balli, also known as “Tony Balli,” with insider trading involving five publicly traded companies. Authorities arrested him Thursday morning in Queens.
Balli was scheduled to appear Thursday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marcia M. Henry for an initial appearance and arraignment. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted.
The charges are allegations. Balli is presumed innocent unless proven guilty, and the release does not include a response from him or his attorney.
Access to Confidential Deal Documents
According to prosecutors, Balli had worked since about 1989 as a document processing specialist at a New York City law firm with an international practice. The release identifies his employer only as “Law Firm-1.”
His duties included creating and revising legal documents for attorneys and preparing and submitting filings through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR system, prosecutors said.
The complaint alleges that Balli used information obtained through that work to buy shares before announcements involving partnerships, mergers and acquisitions. Firm policies prohibited employees from trading on material nonpublic information learned through their jobs.
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. accused Balli of repeatedly taking confidential information from his employer and its clients for use in his own trading.
The trading allegations remain prosecutors’ account and have not been established by a conviction.
E2open Purchase Preceded Acquisition Announcement
One transaction described in the complaint involved E2open Parent Holdings, a Texas-based supply chain software company.
Prosecutors allege that Balli bought approximately 14,866 E2open shares on May 12, 2025, despite having no previous investment in the company.
On May 25, Australia-based WiseTech Global announced an agreement to acquire E2open for $3.30 a share in cash, giving the transaction an enterprise value of $2.1 billion.
The offer represented a 28% premium over E2open’s closing share price on the preceding trading day. Balli’s employer represented WiseTech in the acquisition, according to the release.
Balli allegedly sold his entire E2open holding on May 27, the first trading day after the announcement.
Four Other Transactions Cited
The complaint also alleges that Balli traded Forge Global Holdings shares before the November 2025 announcement of its $660 million acquisition by Charles Schwab.
Prosecutors cited trades in Paramount Skydance before the February 2026 announcement of its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The remaining allegations concern Talkspace, ahead of the March 2026 announcement of its $853 million acquisition by Universal Health Services, and Pacira BioSciences, before an October 2026 acquisition announcement involving Viatris valued at $1.65 billion.
Nocella and James C. Barnacle Jr., the FBI’s New York field office chief, announced the case. Nocella credited the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s surveillance operation with assisting the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan P. Lax and Nick M. Axelrod are prosecuting the case through the office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section.
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