Former Merck Analyst Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading Charges

By Michael Calia 

A former financial analyst for pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc. this week pleaded guilty to charges related to insider trading, authorities said.

Zachary Zwerko, 32 years old, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and three counts of securities fraud stemming from an insider-trading scheme that ran from at least 2010 through this past August, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

Authorities didn't say that Mr. Zwerko worked for Merck, but The Wall Street Journal had previously confirmed with a company spokeswoman that he had been employed by the pharmaceutical firm.

Mr. Zwerko's plot focused on using inside information to trade based on information about various acquisitions. It generated $57,000 in illegal profit for him and $700,000 in illicit gains for a co-conspirator, authorities said.

Mr. Zwerko faces a maximum sentence of five years for the conspiracy county and 20 years for each of the three counts of securities fraud. He also faces a fine of as much as $5 million, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense in his conspiracy count, authorities said.

The former analyst is scheduled to be sentenced May 15.

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