AT Kearney consultant pleads guilty for insider trading

Sherif Mityas, a consultant at consulting firm A.T. Kearney, has admitted that he has used confidential information, which he had obtained during his work for the consulting firm to trade in shares. While advising private-equity firm he came to know that Carlyle was planning to buy vitamin company NBTY. With that information, he invested in shares of NBTY earning over $25,000. 

The criminal charges against Mityas show that Carlyle and other A.T. Kearney consultants were hired in May 2010 to advise Carlyle on a planned acquisition of the firm NBTY. In the same month, Mityas purchased 1,300 shares of the company for $34 per share. In July, after NBTY announced that Carlyle would take over the company for $55 per share, NBTY's shares shot up from $37.47 to $53 each. The next day, Mityas sold his shares and made a $25,000 profit, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

After Mityas had confessed to insider trading, he was fined $78,000, and must also undergo the standard punishment of the American legal system. When the strategic consulting firm learned that Mityas admitted to insider trading, the consulting firm terminated his contract with immediate effect.

In a press statement, A.T. Kearney has announced that it has "fully cooperated" with authorities. "Our commitment to do business with the highest degree of integrity has been unchanged since our founding in 1926" said A.T. Kearney.