Uncle-Nephew Duo Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading in Multi-Million Dollar Scheme Involving Covid-19 Drug Manufacturer

More than a year after being charged with insider trading, James A. “Andrew” Stiles of the Lowcountry and Edward G. “Gray” Stiles of Richmond, Va., have pleaded guilty to using confidential information about Eastman Kodak Co. to make over $1 million in illegal profits. The securities fraud case was filed in February 2023 against the two cousins, who were accused of misappropriating information about potential government loans being made to Eastman Kodak Company to finance the production of Covid-19-related pharmaceutical components.

The scheme began almost four years ago when Andrew Stiles, who was 38 years old at the time, was a newly hired executive at drug manufacturer Phlow Corp. Phlow Corp. was collaborating with Eastman Kodak on the pandemic-era project and was also assisting Eastman Kodak in applying for a large government loan that was made public on July 27, 2020, when a $765 million “letter of interest” was announced. In the days that followed the announcement of the loan, Kodak stock experienced a significant rise, increasing to more than 2,500 percent above the closing price prior to the news.

According to prosecutors, Andrew shared confidential information about the financing status with his Virginia cousin Edward during these weeks leading up to the public announcement of the loan. The cousins bought approximately 130,000 shares of Eastman Kodak between June 2020 and July 27th before selling all their stock within weeks of the announcement, making a combined $1.2 million from their trades as reported by Damian Williams, U.S Attorney for Southern District New York.[