SAN DIEGO (CNS) — Three former minor league baseball players who pleaded guilty to profiting from inside information involving Del Taco stock were sentenced in San Diego federal court Friday to credit for time served.
Jordan Joseph Qsar, Grant Lee Witherspoon, and Austin Lane Bernard purchased Del Taco stock, then sold the shares after Qsar learned that Jack in the Box was acquiring Del Taco.
Prosecutors say Qsar learned of the acquisition from a friend who personally worked on the Del Taco deal as a senior associate in Jack in the Box's strategic finance department.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Qsar then shared that information with Witherspoon and Bernard, whom he knew through playing minor league baseball in the Tampa Bay Rays' system and college baseball at Pepperdine University.
The trio then purchased Del Taco stock and sold it in the days after the acquisition went public in late 2021, netting them between $42,768 and $64,693.
In prosecutors' sentencing documents, they wrote that Qsar's friend was not criminally charged because it was not clear that he intended to commit insider trading. More than a dozen other people who profited from the information were also not charged "because it was difficult to assess their intent," prosecutors wrote.
The prosecution and defense attorneys jointly recommended sentences of time served. Prosecutors did not recommend custody, as they wrote that each man's felony conviction would serve as a sufficient deterrent.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also brought cases against the trio, all of which settled in 2024.
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