Six people have been charged in a sprawling, years-long securities fraud case that federal authorities say involved insider trading, fake data and manipulated press releases tied to biopharma stocks and other transactions.
Federal prosecutors unsealed complaints charging Muhammad Saad Shoukat, 33, his brothers Muhammad Arham Shoukat, 35, and Muhammad Shahwaiz Shoukat, 36, along with friends Daniyal Khan, 33, and Izunna Okonkwo, 33, for roles in a complex scheme to trade on material non-public information. All five are described with dual nationalities in the filings: the Shoukat brothers and Khan and Okonkwo hold combinations of U.S., Pakistani, U.K., and Nigerian citizenship. Separately, Gyunho Justin Kim, 32, of San Francisco, California, was charged in a related complaint and made an initial appearance before the Honorable Michael A. Hammer, United States Magistrate Judge, on December 12, 2025.
“As alleged, the defendants engaged in insider trading and market manipulation on a massive scale—using stolen information, falsified data, and fake press releases to mislead investors and enrich themselves. This Office will continue to pursue complex financial fraud schemes that threaten the fairness and transparency of our markets and harm individual investors.”
– Senior Counsel Philip Lamparello
“The FBI takes allegations of insider trading with the utmost seriousness,” said FBI Newark Special Agent in Charge, Stefanie Roddy. “Shoukat and his co-conspirators benefitted greatly from their years-long scheme, and cheated the system to reap their rewards. As complex as a financial fraud scheme is, the FBI will endeavor to stay one step ahead of these alleged criminals.”
The charges arise from three overlapping schemes spanning June 2020 through February 2024: a multi-million-dollar insider trading operation, a manipulation campaign around a breast cancer biopharmaceutical company, and a separate manipulation effort tied to a company developing an opioid overdose treatment. Prosecutors say the combined illicit profits tied to the insider trading portion alone totaled at least $41 million.
According to the complaint, Kim worked at an investment bank involved in numerous mergers and acquisitions of publicly traded healthcare and biopharmaceutical firms and obtained material non-public information, or MNPI, from deal work and from colleagues. Kim allegedly passed MNPI about at least nine pending deals to Saad Shoukat, who then traded on that information directly and through a network of associates. Prosecutors say Saad also tipped Arham, Shahwaiz, Khan and Okonkwo, and that group profited repeatedly from trades timed to the stolen information.
One scheme targeted Olema, a public company developing OP-1250 for breast cancer, where the complaint says Saad, Arham and others accumulated sizable positions beginning in the spring of 2021. After accessing confidential results showing OP-1250 performed worse than expected, the co-conspirators allegedly falsified that data and circulated it in a way that made it appear authentic and to have come from Olema. That false information temporarily inflated Olema’s stock price and allowed the defendants to sell large blocks of shares at a gain or to avoid looming losses.
The complaint describes a separate manipulation of Opiant, a company working on an opioid overdose treatment, tied to MNPI about a potential acquirer that Kim reportedly provided to Saad. When that deal stalled and the defendants were left holding stock, the group allegedly created a fake Opiant website and fake email addresses to release a bogus press release announcing a purported merger. The false release, prosecutors say, drove Opiant’s share price up about 29%, and the defendants sold into that spike, leaving other investors with substantial losses.
- Conspiracy to Commit Securities Fraud: Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, Shahwaiz Shoukat, Khan, Okonkwo, and Kim face a maximum of 25 years in prison.
- Conspiracy to Commit Insider Trading: Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, Shahwaiz Shoukat, Khan, Okonkwo, and Kim face five years in prison.
- Securities Fraud: Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, Shahwaiz Shoukat, Khan, Okonkwo, and Kim face five years in prison.
- Insider trading: Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, Shahwaiz Shoukat, Khan, Okonkwo, and Kim face 20 years in prison.
- Conspiracy to commit wire fraud: Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, Shahwaiz Shoukat, Khan, Okonkwo, and Kim face 20 years in prison.
- Wire fraud: Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, Shahwaiz Shoukat, Khan, Okonkwo, and Kim face 20 years in prison.
- Conspiracy to commit market manipulation: Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, and Shahwaiz Shoukat face 25 years in prison.
- Conspiracy to commit market manipulation fraud: Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, and Shahwaiz Shoukat face 25 years in prison.
- Conspiracy to commit market manipulation fraud: Saad Shoukat and Arham Shoukat face 25 years in prison
- Conspiracy to commit market manipulation fraud: Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, and Shahwaiz Shoukat face 20 years in prison
- Conspiracy to commit wire fraud: Saad Shoukat and Arham Shoukat face 20 years in prison
- Conspiracy to commit wire fraud: Saad Shoukat, Arham Shoukat, and Shahwaiz Shoukat face 20 years in prison.
Senior Counsel Lamparello credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy, with the investigation. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys George Barchini of the Bank Integrity, Money Laundering, and Recovery Unit and Aaron Webman, Deputy Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.
