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by Mike Caswell

After a 13-day trial in federal court in New Jersey, a jury has convicted Boston resident Ross Haghighat on insider trading charges stemming from the takeover of Vancouver-Seattle biopharmaceutical listing Chinook Therapeutics Inc. in 2023. Prosecutors claimed that Mr. Haghighat, 62, tipped others in a scheme that generated $600,000 in gains from a $3.2-billion takeover offer made by Novartis AG. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) He learned about the takeover through board meetings, the government said.

The jury read its verdict in a 30-minute hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 17 (after a lunch recess that included an order from Queen Pizza for the 12 jurors). The jury found Mr. Haghighat guilty on all of the charges he faced, which included 17 counts of securities fraud and two related conspiracy counts. With that, the judge excused the jury and declared the trial concluded. The next step will be sentencing.

The verdict comes about seven months after Mr. Haghighat resigned from his position as the chairman of Sernova Biotherapeutics Inc., a Toronto Stock Exchange listing, as the charges became public. The case had no connection to Sernova, but the timing was particularly unfortunate for the company. It had appointed Mr. Haghighat as chairman just months earlier, on Jan. 30, 2025, touting his "proven track record in driving successful innovations, strategic growth and mergers and acquisitions."

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