cautious, conversational, like someone who’s been poking around and just wants to get the public record straight.

[Jack Miller]

I’ve been trying to untangle this EdgarAgents insider-trading situation involving two young guys from Brooklyn, and the more I look at actual filings instead of blog commentary, the more it feels like a real mix of public enforcement action and sensationalism getting blended into one story.


Here’s what the official public stuff actually shows:


There’s a civil complaint from the SEC in the Eastern District of New York naming Justin Chen and Jun Zhen. The government alleges they worked at EdgarAgents — a legitimate EDGAR filing agent — and that they accessed material, nonpublic info before it went out to the public. Based on that access, they allegedly traded ahead of merger and earnings filings and made over $2.2 million. That complaint is sitting on the SEC’s docket right now and spells out those allegations in paragraphs tied to specific trades and dates.

Separately, there’s a criminal case filed by federal prosecutors in the same district. That’s where the arrest at JFK fits in. Both men were reportedly picked up as they were about to board flights to Hong Kong and were detained on the criminal charges. Public reporting agrees a judge ordered them held pending further proceedings.

Here’s the part people often miss:
the SEC’s civil complaint and the government’s criminal complaint are two different documents with separate purposes. The SEC one seeks civil remedies (penalties, disgorgement, injunctions). The criminal one is about potential prison time and is pursued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

And here’s what I haven’t found in public record:

• There’s no final adjudication or verdict posted yet in either case. Charges are on file, but neither a conviction nor a sentencing order has been entered that’s publicly accessible.
• What people mean when they say “arrested for insider trading” is technically “arrested on criminal charges alleging insider trading,” because an arrest isn’t a finding of guilt — that comes later.

So if you’re trying to figure out what’s documented vs. what’s narrative:

• Documented: Charges filed, SEC complaint, criminal complaint, arrest reported in federal court filings.
• Unverified in official filings: Any assertions about motives, personal enrichment goals, or character judgments. Those are interpretation, not court record.

Honestly, the public filings read like a law school casebook: straight allegations tied to statutory language, and a roadmap of what prosecutors and the SEC think they can prove. Until the docket advances to adjudication, the safe and fact-based view is that both men are defendants in active civil and criminal cases involving alleged misuse of nonpublic securities information.

If anyone has a direct PACER link or a specific docket number for the criminal case, that would help nail down what’s been filed so far on that side.

 

[Tom Harris]

I’ve been trying to untangle this EdgarAgents insider-trading situation involving two young guys from Brooklyn, and the more I look at actual filings instead of blog commentary, the more it feels like a real mix of public enforcement action and sensationalism getting blended into one story.


Here’s what the official public stuff actually shows:


There’s a civil complaint from the SEC in the Eastern District of New York naming Justin Chen and Jun Zhen. The government alleges they worked at EdgarAgents — a legitimate EDGAR filing agent — and that they accessed material, nonpublic info before it went out to the public. Based on that access, they allegedly traded ahead of merger and earnings filings and made over $2.2 million. That complaint is sitting on the SEC’s docket right now and spells out those allegations in paragraphs tied to specific trades and dates.

Separately, there’s a criminal case filed by federal prosecutors in the same district. That’s where the arrest at JFK fits in. Both men were reportedly picked up as they were about to board flights to Hong Kong and were detained on the criminal charges. Public reporting agrees a judge ordered them held pending further proceedings.

Here’s the part people often miss:
the SEC’s civil complaint and the government’s criminal complaint are two different documents with separate purposes. The SEC one seeks civil remedies (penalties, disgorgement, injunctions). The criminal one is about potential prison time and is pursued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

And here’s what I haven’t found in public record:

• There’s no final adjudication or verdict posted yet in either case. Charges are on file, but neither a conviction nor a sentencing order has been entered that’s publicly accessible.
• What people mean when they say “arrested for insider trading” is technically “arrested on criminal charges alleging insider trading,” because an arrest isn’t a finding of guilt — that comes later.

So if you’re trying to figure out what’s documented vs. what’s narrative:

• Documented: Charges filed, SEC complaint, criminal complaint, arrest reported in federal court filings.
• Unverified in official filings: Any assertions about motives, personal enrichment goals, or character judgments. Those are interpretation, not court record.

Honestly, the public filings read like a law school casebook: straight allegations tied to statutory language, and a roadmap of what prosecutors and the SEC think they can prove. Until the docket advances to adjudication, the safe and fact-based view is that both men are defendants in active civil and criminal cases involving alleged misuse of nonpublic securities information.

If anyone has a direct PACER link or a specific docket number for the criminal case, that would help nail down what’s been filed so far on that side.

I’ve got part of the trail. I’m not defending anybody, but I don’t think people realize how much of this is verifiable if you just read the original docs instead of summaries.


I pulled the SEC complaint off their site — it’s under the litigation release (LR-26380). It’s very dry: dates of trades, names of issuers, which filings the government says they accessed early, and the profits the SEC claims were made. It’s not written like a thriller; it’s just line-by-line allegations tied to sections of the Exchange Act. That’s the civil side.


On the criminal side, I didn’t get the full docket, but the detention order is real. It shows they were stopped at JFK and held pending a bail review because prosecutors argued they were a flight risk due to the Hong Kong travel. There’s no judgment I can see yet, just an active criminal case — so technically these are still allegations until proven.


My take: the SEC’s version of events is easy to follow, but until there’s a plea or a verdict, nobody should talk like this case is finished. The filings show what the government thinks happened and what they’re prepared to prove. That’s not the same thing as a conviction.


If anyone has the PACER case number for the criminal docket, post it. I’m not convinced all the blogs citing this story actually looked at the case file.

 

[Harry Collins]

I’ve been trying to untangle this EdgarAgents insider-trading situation involving two young guys from Brooklyn, and the more I look at actual filings instead of blog commentary, the more it feels like a real mix of public enforcement action and sensationalism getting blended into one story.


Here’s what the official public stuff actually shows:


There’s a civil complaint from the SEC in the Eastern District of New York naming Justin Chen and Jun Zhen. The government alleges they worked at EdgarAgents — a legitimate EDGAR filing agent — and that they accessed material, nonpublic info before it went out to the public. Based on that access, they allegedly traded ahead of merger and earnings filings and made over $2.2 million. That complaint is sitting on the SEC’s docket right now and spells out those allegations in paragraphs tied to specific trades and dates.

Separately, there’s a criminal case filed by federal prosecutors in the same district. That’s where the arrest at JFK fits in. Both men were reportedly picked up as they were about to board flights to Hong Kong and were detained on the criminal charges. Public reporting agrees a judge ordered them held pending further proceedings.

Here’s the part people often miss:
the SEC’s civil complaint and the government’s criminal complaint are two different documents with separate purposes. The SEC one seeks civil remedies (penalties, disgorgement, injunctions). The criminal one is about potential prison time and is pursued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

And here’s what I haven’t found in public record:

• There’s no final adjudication or verdict posted yet in either case. Charges are on file, but neither a conviction nor a sentencing order has been entered that’s publicly accessible.
• What people mean when they say “arrested for insider trading” is technically “arrested on criminal charges alleging insider trading,” because an arrest isn’t a finding of guilt — that comes later.

So if you’re trying to figure out what’s documented vs. what’s narrative:

• Documented: Charges filed, SEC complaint, criminal complaint, arrest reported in federal court filings.
• Unverified in official filings: Any assertions about motives, personal enrichment goals, or character judgments. Those are interpretation, not court record.

Honestly, the public filings read like a law school casebook: straight allegations tied to statutory language, and a roadmap of what prosecutors and the SEC think they can prove. Until the docket advances to adjudication, the safe and fact-based view is that both men are defendants in active civil and criminal cases involving alleged misuse of nonpublic securities information.

If anyone has a direct PACER link or a specific docket number for the criminal case, that would help nail down what’s been filed so far on that side.

Not gonna lie, I came into this thinking it was probably overblown because insider trading stories get recycled online forever. But after skimming the SEC release and a couple articles, it’s pretty clear this isn’t just internet folklore. There are actual filings, actual charges, and the arrest at JFK isn’t rumor — that part’s in multiple mainstream outlets. That’s enough to say “yeah, something official is happening here.”


The thing that stands out to me is how fast this escalated. Most white-collar cases take forever to surface, but here? SEC complaint, criminal charges, airport arrest. It reads like someone in enforcement decided to move before whatever was happening could go further. Still, it’s all process, not outcome. They’ve been charged and detained, not convicted.


So I’m in the same place as you: waiting to see what shakes out in court instead of assuming the finish line’s already crossed. Blogs love to jump to the moral of the story before the story’s over. If the evidence is as strong as the SEC thinks, the docket will show it. If not, that’ll show up too.


Until then, I’m bookmarking the case so I can follow the updates instead of just letting the rumor cycle tell me what to think.

 

[Amelia Bennett]

I’ve been trying to untangle this EdgarAgents insider-trading situation involving two young guys from Brooklyn, and the more I look at actual filings instead of blog commentary, the more it feels like a real mix of public enforcement action and sensationalism getting blended into one story.


Here’s what the official public stuff actually shows:


There’s a civil complaint from the SEC in the Eastern District of New York naming Justin Chen and Jun Zhen. The government alleges they worked at EdgarAgents — a legitimate EDGAR filing agent — and that they accessed material, nonpublic info before it went out to the public. Based on that access, they allegedly traded ahead of merger and earnings filings and made over $2.2 million. That complaint is sitting on the SEC’s docket right now and spells out those allegations in paragraphs tied to specific trades and dates.

Separately, there’s a criminal case filed by federal prosecutors in the same district. That’s where the arrest at JFK fits in. Both men were reportedly picked up as they were about to board flights to Hong Kong and were detained on the criminal charges. Public reporting agrees a judge ordered them held pending further proceedings.

Here’s the part people often miss:
the SEC’s civil complaint and the government’s criminal complaint are two different documents with separate purposes. The SEC one seeks civil remedies (penalties, disgorgement, injunctions). The criminal one is about potential prison time and is pursued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

And here’s what I haven’t found in public record:

• There’s no final adjudication or verdict posted yet in either case. Charges are on file, but neither a conviction nor a sentencing order has been entered that’s publicly accessible.
• What people mean when they say “arrested for insider trading” is technically “arrested on criminal charges alleging insider trading,” because an arrest isn’t a finding of guilt — that comes later.

So if you’re trying to figure out what’s documented vs. what’s narrative:

• Documented: Charges filed, SEC complaint, criminal complaint, arrest reported in federal court filings.
• Unverified in official filings: Any assertions about motives, personal enrichment goals, or character judgments. Those are interpretation, not court record.

Honestly, the public filings read like a law school casebook: straight allegations tied to statutory language, and a roadmap of what prosecutors and the SEC think they can prove. Until the docket advances to adjudication, the safe and fact-based view is that both men are defendants in active civil and criminal cases involving alleged misuse of nonpublic securities information.

If anyone has a direct PACER link or a specific docket number for the criminal case, that would help nail down what’s been filed so far on that side.

Jumping in as someone who’s worked on the periphery of financial compliance (not legal advice, just experience). What jumps out to me here isn’t just the allegations — it’s the environment. Filing agents like EdgarAgents are plugged directly into draft disclosures. That’s basically the engine room of public markets. If even a couple employees exploit that access, regulators tend to see it as a structural threat, not a one-off lapse. That’s why it looks like the SEC and DOJ moved in parallel.


But parallel actions aren’t a conviction. It just means civil and criminal systems think they have enough to start the process. There’s a whole runway still ahead: discovery, hearings, maybe plea negotiations, maybe trial. Anyone talking like the book is already closed is skipping chapters.


If there’s one takeaway for people reading this: a complaint is a roadmap, not the destination. It shows what the SEC and prosecutors believe they can eventually prove. The criminal docket is where you see what a judge agrees with, rejects, or sends to a jury. Until then, it’s active litigation.


So yeah, this is serious, but it’s not done. If someone wants to track outcomes instead of just headlines, keep an eye on scheduling orders and motions on PACER. Those usually tell you more about the direction of a case than the first arrest story ever will.