ATLANTA — A former Equifax employee is facing federal charges of insider trading relating to the Atlanta-based company's recent massive data breach.
Jun Ying allegedly sold $1 million worth of stock to profit before the company announced the data breach.
[ [Equifax data breach: What to know] ]
“This defendant took advantage of his position as Equifax’s USIS Chief Information Officer and allegedly sold over $950,000 worth of stock to profit before the company announced a data breach that impacted over 145 million Americans,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “Our office takes the abuse of trust inherent in insider trading very seriously and will prosecute those who seek to profit in this manner.”
The breach may have exposed the personal information of 143 million U.S. consumers.
The data was allegedly accessed includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses. The company also said driver’s license numbers might also have been exposed.