Linklaters has suspended a US associate after her husband was arrested on insider trading charges. He is accused of using confidential information obtained from her work on M&A matters.

The Linklaters lawyer, who has not been named by the firm, is based in its New York office and had worked on corporate transactions including Steinhoff International Holdings' acquisition of Mattress Firm Holdings, and Sibanye Gold Limited's acquisition of Stillwater Mining. Her husband, Fei Yan, purchased stocks in the companies being acquired prior to the mergers and sold them after the deals went ahead. Manhattan prosecutors accuse him of making $120,000 in profit from the information gleaned from his wife.

Yan, a Chinese citizen, allegedly tried to cover his tracks when he made the trades by creating an account under the name of his mother in China. He has now been charged with wire and securities fraud, and was only released on bail after stumping up a $500,000 unsecured bond. He also faces a related civil legal action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
   
Yan's wife came home to find some changes to the living room


A Linklaters spokeswoman told RollOnFriday that the firm's "duty to respect the confidential nature of our work is the bedrock of our business" and that it has "robust polices in place, including those relating to the handling of confidential information and dealing rules, on which we train all our lawyers and staff".

She added, "We will continue to cooperate fully with the authorities on this matter, and the relevant associate has been suspended, pending further investigation, without access to the firm’s systems and confidential information".
 
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