2025-02-10 sec-litreleases litigation_release 66 KB 3,348 chars

SEC v. Anthony Marsico; Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr.; Robert Quattrocchi; and Timothy Carey, No. LR-26243, Northern District of Illinois (Feb. 10, 2025) — Press Release

raw: Anthony Marsico; Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr.; Robert Quattrocchi; and Timothy Carey

Anthony Marsico; Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr.; Robert Quattrocchi; and Timothy Carey, No. 1:25-cv-005553 (Feb. 10, 2025)

Caption
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Anthony Marsico, Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr., Robert Quattrocchi, and Timothy Carey
summary

The SEC charged four Illinois residents with insider trading in Goodness Growth Holdings stock ahead of its $413 million acquisition by Verano Holdings.

paragraph

The SEC alleges that Verano executive Anthony Marsico tipped material nonpublic information regarding a merger to Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr., who then tipped Robert Quattrocchi and Timothy Carey. The illicit trades resulted in gains for the defendants ranging from $9,260 to $661,549. The defendants face charges for violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5.

narrative

The SEC has filed charges against Anthony Marsico, Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr., Robert Quattrocchi, and Timothy Carey for insider trading involving Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc. Marsico, an executive at Verano Holdings Corporation, allegedly used his position to learn of Verano's planned $413 million acquisition of Goodness Growth and tipped Pizzello, who then tipped Quattrocchi and Carey. Following the public announcement, Goodness Growth's stock price rose by nearly 42%, leading to significant illicit gains, including $661,549 for Marsico. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement, and civil penalties, as well as a bar preventing Marsico from serving as an officer or director of a public company. While the litigation is ongoing, Pizzello and Quattrocchi have already consented to judgments involving permanent injunctions and the payment of disgorgement and penalties.

Enriched metadata

Scheme
insider-trading (99%)
Court
Northern District of Illinois
Case No.
1:25-cv-005553
Victim loss
$413,000,000
Entity
Anthony Marsico
Classified insider-trading(confidence 99%). EDGAR detection: forms 4/3/5/144· recall 81% / precision 19%. detection rule →
Parties
Securities and Exchange CommissionAnthony MarsicoArthur P. Pizzello, Jr.Robert QuattrocchiTimothy Carey
Keywords
marsicogoodness growthpizzelloquattrocchicareyanthony marsicomarsico arthurarthur pizzellopizzello robertrobert quattrocchiquattrocchi timothytimothy careysecurities exchangepublic announcementpizzello quattrocchi

Exhibits & Attached Documents (1)

Extracted insights

Dollar amounts 5
  • $413.00M $413 million $100M–$1B
  • $662K $661,549 $100K–$1M
  • $124K $124,456 $100K–$1M
  • $28K $28,136 $10K–$100K
  • $9K $9,260 <$10K
Entities 12
  • person anthony marsico
  • company anthony marsico from serving as an officer or director of a public company
  • company goodness growth holdings, inc.
  • company insider trading in the stock of goodness growth holdings, inc.
  • person robert quattrocchi
  • agency Securities and Exchange Commission
  • person steven klawans
  • agency the securities and exchange commission's investigation
  • agency the securities and exchange commission's litigation
  • person timothy carey
  • company verano holdings corporation
  • company vireo growth, inc.
Triples 21
  • Securities And Exchange Commission filed charges against Anthony Marsico, Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr., Robert Quattrocchi, and Timothy Carey
  • Anthony Marsico, Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr., Robert Quattrocchi, and Timothy Carey allegedly engaged in insider trading in the stock of Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc.
  • Verano Holdings Corporation was acquiring Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc.
  • Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc. is now doing business as Vireo Growth, Inc.
  • Anthony Marsico learned that Verano Holdings Corporation was planning to acquire Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc.
  • Anthony Marsico tipped Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr.
  • Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr. tipped Robert Quattrocchi and Timothy Carey
  • Anthony Marsico, Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr., Robert Quattrocchi, and Timothy Carey purchased shares of Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc. stock
  • Anthony Marsico had unrealized gains of $661,549
  • Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr. had unrealized gains of $124,456
  • Robert Quattrocchi had realized and unrealized gains of $28,136
  • Timothy Carey had unrealized gains of $9,260
  • Securities And Exchange Commission charges Anthony Marsico, Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr., Robert Quattrocchi, and Timothy Carey with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5
  • Securities And Exchange Commission seeks conduct based permanent injunctions, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties
  • Securities And Exchange Commission seeks an order barring Anthony Marsico from serving as an officer or director of a public company
  • Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr. and Robert Quattrocchi consented to the entry of judgments imposing conduct-based injunctions
  • Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr. and Robert Quattrocchi ordered to pay disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty
  • Richard G. Stoltz and Rebecca Hollenbeck conducted the Securities And Exchange Commission's investigation
  • Steven Klawans supervised the Securities And Exchange Commission's investigation
  • Ashley Dalmau-Holmes and Timothy Leiman will lead the Securities And Exchange Commission's litigation
  • Benjamin J. Hanauer and Eric M. Phillips supervised the Securities And Exchange Commission's litigation
PDF (from attached: complaint)
Text layers
Extracted body text (3,348c)
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 26243 / February 10, 2025 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Anthony Marsico, Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr., Robert Quattrocchi, and Timothy Carey, No 1:25-cv-005553 (N.D. Ill. filed Jan. 16, 2025) SEC Charges Four Illinois Residents with Insider Trading in Stock of Cannabis Company On January 16, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against Anthony Marsico, Arthur P. Pizzello. Jr., Robert Quattrocchi, and Timothy Carey for allegedly insider trading in the stock of Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc., a cannabis company now doing business as Vireo Growth, Inc., in advance of a February 1, 2022 public announcement that another cannabis company, Verano Holdings Corporation, was acquiring Goodness Growth in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $413 million. On the day of the public announcement, Goodness Growth's stock share price rose by nearly 42%. The SEC's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that Marsico, Pizzello, Quattrocchi, and Carey unlawfully bought Goodness Growth stock based on material nonpublic information about the planned acquisition. The SEC's complaint alleges that Marsico learned, through his employment as an executive of Verano at the time of the conduct, that Verano was planning to acquire Goodness Growth, and that Marsico tipped this material nonpublic information to Pizzello, who then tipped Quattrocchi and Carey. Based on this material nonpublic information, Marsico, Pizzello, Quattrocchi, and Carey purchased shares of Goodness Growth stock in advance of the public announcement of the planned acquisition. The SEC's complaint alleges that based on their illicit trading in Goodness Growth stock, Marsico had unrealized gains of $661,549, Pizzello had unrealized gains of $124,456, Quattrocchi had realized and unrealized gains of $28,136 and Carey had unrealized gains of $9,260 at the close of the market on the day of the public announcement. The SEC's complaint charges Marsico, Pizzello, Quattrocchi, and Carey with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and seeks conduct based permanent injunctions, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties against them along with an order barring Marsico from serving as an officer or director of a public company. Pizzello and Quattrocchi have each consented to the entry of judgments imposing conduct-based injunctions permanently enjoining them from violating Exchange Act Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and ordering them to pay disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty in an amount to be determined by the court at a later date upon motion of the SEC. The SEC's investigation was conducted by Richard G. Stoltz and Rebecca Hollenbeck and supervised by Steven Klawans of the Chicago Regional Office. The SEC's litigation will be led by Ashley Dalmau-Holmes and Timothy Leiman and supervised by Benjamin J. Hanauer and Eric M. Phillips of the Chicago Regional Office. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and the British Columbia Securities Commission.
OCR text (3,348c · html-text · 99% conf)
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 26243 / February 10, 2025 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Anthony Marsico, Arthur P. Pizzello, Jr., Robert Quattrocchi, and Timothy Carey, No 1:25-cv-005553 (N.D. Ill. filed Jan. 16, 2025) SEC Charges Four Illinois Residents with Insider Trading in Stock of Cannabis Company On January 16, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against Anthony Marsico, Arthur P. Pizzello. Jr., Robert Quattrocchi, and Timothy Carey for allegedly insider trading in the stock of Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc., a cannabis company now doing business as Vireo Growth, Inc., in advance of a February 1, 2022 public announcement that another cannabis company, Verano Holdings Corporation, was acquiring Goodness Growth in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $413 million. On the day of the public announcement, Goodness Growth's stock share price rose by nearly 42%. The SEC's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that Marsico, Pizzello, Quattrocchi, and Carey unlawfully bought Goodness Growth stock based on material nonpublic information about the planned acquisition. The SEC's complaint alleges that Marsico learned, through his employment as an executive of Verano at the time of the conduct, that Verano was planning to acquire Goodness Growth, and that Marsico tipped this material nonpublic information to Pizzello, who then tipped Quattrocchi and Carey. Based on this material nonpublic information, Marsico, Pizzello, Quattrocchi, and Carey purchased shares of Goodness Growth stock in advance of the public announcement of the planned acquisition. The SEC's complaint alleges that based on their illicit trading in Goodness Growth stock, Marsico had unrealized gains of $661,549, Pizzello had unrealized gains of $124,456, Quattrocchi had realized and unrealized gains of $28,136 and Carey had unrealized gains of $9,260 at the close of the market on the day of the public announcement. The SEC's complaint charges Marsico, Pizzello, Quattrocchi, and Carey with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and seeks conduct based permanent injunctions, disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties against them along with an order barring Marsico from serving as an officer or director of a public company. Pizzello and Quattrocchi have each consented to the entry of judgments imposing conduct-based injunctions permanently enjoining them from violating Exchange Act Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and ordering them to pay disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty in an amount to be determined by the court at a later date upon motion of the SEC. The SEC's investigation was conducted by Richard G. Stoltz and Rebecca Hollenbeck and supervised by Steven Klawans of the Chicago Regional Office. The SEC's litigation will be led by Ashley Dalmau-Holmes and Timothy Leiman and supervised by Benjamin J. Hanauer and Eric M. Phillips of the Chicago Regional Office. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and the British Columbia Securities Commission.