Rhode Island man sentenced in insider trading scheme

BOSTON (AP) — A Rhode Island man who authorities say made a more than $50,000 profit by trading shares of a Massachusetts semiconductor company based on insider information has been sentenced to a month of home detention and two years of probation.

John Younis, 59, of Bristol, Rhode Island, was sentenced in federal court in Boston on Wednesday after pleading guilty in March to securities fraud charges.

Younis was one of three men charged in the scheme in January.

Prosecutors allege that in June 2016, one of the other men obtained nonpublic information from a relative who is a senior executive at Analog Devices, Inc. about a planned acquisition of Linear Technology Corp., in Milpitas, California.

That man allegedly passed the information to Younis, who purchased shares of Linear stock in advance of the public announcement of the acquisition, prosecutors said.

Younis also purchased call options — a bet that the price of a stock will increase prior to the expiration of the option — and tipped off a business associate, prosecutors said.

After the deal was announced, Younis’ and his associate sold their Linear securities at a profit, prosecutors said.

The other two men have pleaded not guilty and await trial.