Pharmaceutical company executive is alleged to have stolen millions through illegal trading

A former Novo Nordisk executive stands accused of using confidential information to rack up 6 million kroner on the stock market and storing it in an offshore account in the Caribbean.

In Denmark’s most serious case of insider trading ever, the former manager of the pharmaceutical company’s US investor relations division allegedly used sensitive information to trade on share price drops and increases through a company on the Caribbean island of Antigua.

Prosecutors say the 35-year-old man made 13 trades netting him about 6 million kroner in illegal – and tax free – profits. Novo Nordisk fired the man shortly after learning of the charges.

‘This is the most serious insider trading case Denmark has seen up to now,’ said Henrik Helmer Steen, assistant crown prosecutor with the Serious Economic Crimes office.

‘The trading was conducted by a person in a position of trust, it was professionally carried out and it occurred systematically over a number of years, resulting in a huge payoff.’

The man is presently being held in remand and prosecutors are seeking to keep him in custody until the trial begins within the next six months.