Ex-Jeffries trader found guilty of securities fraud

A former trader in the Stamford office of Jeffries & Co. Inc. was found guilty on one count of securities fraud and not guilty on nine counts of securities fraud in a retrial held in U.S. District Court in New Haven.

Jesse C. Litvak, who was a senior trader and managing director at Jeffries & Co, was accused by the federal government of pocketing $2.25 million by offering incorrect information about mortgage bond prices from 2009 to 2011. He was first convicted in March 2014 of 10 counts of fraud related to trading in residential mortgage-backed securities, one count of fraud connected to the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and three counts of making false statements to the government. In December 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the convictions on TARP fraud and making false statement charges and remanded the securities fraud charges to a new trial.

Litvak has been free on bond since his arrest on January 28, 2013, and is scheduled for sentencing on April 21. He faces a maximum term of 20 years.

“Once again, a jury of his peers has rejected Mr. Litvak”™s claims that he engaged in acceptable sales practices, and determined that his lies were, in fact, criminal behavior,” said Deirdre M. Daly, U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut.