A former hedge-fund trader pleaded guilty to criminal charges involving a scheme to trade on inside information about analysts’ ratings changes at UBS AG’s securities unit before the changes became public knowledge.
Mark E. Lenowitz, who formerly traded equity securities on behalf of Chelsey Capital in New York and was a partner at Q Capital Investment Partners LP in New Jersey, entered his plea to one count of conspiracy and one count of securities fraud at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
He said he agreed to forfeit more than $337,000 in profits. He faces as many as 25 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled Jan. 18. He was charged in March with conspiracy and five counts of securities fraud.
Six others have also pleaded guilty in two separate schemes.
Mr. Lenowitz is one of 13 people charged in two separate schemes to use inside information to make improper trades ahead of the public announcements of upgrades or downgrades by UBS analysts and ahead of news of pending mergers and acquisitions in which Morgan Stanley was an adviser.
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