Two Lawyers Charged with Insider Trading

Two lawyers are among six people accused of insider trading in shares of the Neff Corp., a Florida-based equipment rental company.

The Securities and Exchange Commission claims in a civil complaint that Miami lawyer Thomas Borell traded on private information acquired from his friendship with a director in the Neff Corp. before its acquisition by a private equity firm, the Associated Press reports.

The SEC alleges Borell bought more than $1.3 million in Neff stock, much of it on while on family vacations with the Neff director at Walt Disney World and Vail, Colo., the Miami Herald reports. He used a client trust fund to pay for some of the purchases, the SEC complaint (PDF) says. Borell later sold the stock for a $1 million profit, according to an SEC press release.

Borell’s lawyer, David Chase, told the Miami Herald that his client “intends to vigorously contest these allegations.”

The SEC claims that another lawyer, Kevan Acord of Overland Park, Kan., abused his position of trust as a tax consultant to Neff when he and another accountant bought $329,000 in Neff stock nine days before the announcement of the company’s sale. Acord later exchanged shares for his account and that of a longtime client for a nearly $155,000 profit, about $7,700 of it for himself, according to the Miami Herald.

Acord’s lawyer denied that he had any knowledge of plans for the sale of Neff.