Patrick ONeill was an executive at Eastern Bank (Eastern), and Robert Bray was a contractor and real estate developer. They were both members of the Oakley Country Club (Oakley) and were friends for 15 years. One day when the men were privately together in the Oakley pub room, Bray told ONeill that he needed to make a big score to fund a real estate project. At the time, ONeill, as part of his work at Eastern, was evaluating whether Eastern should acquire Wainwright Bank & Trust Co. (Wainwright), a local, publicly traded bank. This was confidential information. ONeill took a napkin, penned the word Wainwright on it, and slid it across the bar to Bray. Bray wordlessly took the napkin and slipped it into his pocket. The next day Bray called his stock broker and purchased $550,000 in Wainwright stock. Two weeks later, when Eastern publicly announced its acquisition of Wainwright, the stock of Wainwright increased in value, and Bray sold his stock and made a $300,000 profit. ONeill did not purchase shares of Wainwright. The United States sued Bray for criminal securities fraud for violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 under the misappropriation theory.

Is Bray guilty of securities fraud? United States v. Bray, 853 F.3d 18 (United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 2017)