BP exec's husband guilty of insider trading .8 million, snooped on her calls

Environment

BP exec’s husband guilty of insider trading $1.8 million, snooped on her calls

Published

1 year ago

February 25, 2024

admin

A general view of the BP logo and petrol station forecourt sign on January 22, 2024 in Southend, United Kingdom.

John Keeble | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The husband of a former BP merger and acquisitions manager pleaded guilty to securities fraud related to insider trading by eavesdropping on his wife’s work calls while she was handling a potential acquisition of TravelCenters of America, a fuel and truck stop operator.

Tyler Loudon, a Houston resident, earned $1.76 million with the illicit trades based on nonpublic knowledge of the possible acquisition at his wife’s company, according to U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani in the Southern District of Texas. Loudon, due to be sentenced May 17, faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. As part of his plea, he agreed to forfeit the $1.76 million of illegal profits.

Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint against Loudon related to the same conduct, which he did not contest.

“Mr. Loudon made a terrible mistake in judgment for which he has taken full responsibility,” Loudon’s lawyer, Peter Zeidenberg, told CNBC.

Authorities said that Loudon in 2022 learned of BP’s confidential plans to acquire TravelCenters in 2022 while working remotely in earshot of his wife, as many couples were due to pandemic-era work-from-home policies.

In December 2022, Loudon secretly listened to his wife’s private work calls discussing BP’s acquisition of TravelCenters while they were working remotely in a small Airbnb during a trip to Rome, according to the SEC’s civil complaint filed in Houston federal court.

After Rome, the couple continued to remotely work “in close quarters,” according to the SEC, noting that their home offices were within “20 feet of each other.”

The SEC said that Loudon’s wife acknowledged occasionally discussing the acquisition with her husband in “normal” married-couple types of conversations.

But over the next few months, Loudon, without telling his wife, accumulated 46,450 shares of TravelCenters, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

To buy the TravelCenters shares, the SEC noted, Loudon sold all the positions in his brokerage account and Roth IRA, along with other equities, all amounting to over $2 million.

On Feb. 16, 2023, when TravelCenters announced the BP acquisition, triggering its 71% stock jump, Loudon sold all of his shares of the company, profiting $1.76 million, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

But in March, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority requested from BP a list of people who were “in the know” about the TravelCenters acquisition before it happened. A former BP employee who had worked on the acquisition then contacted Loudon’s wife, complaining about having to disclose her address and other personal details to comply with FINRA.

When Loudon’s wife told him about this conversation with the former employee, he asked her “if current employees would receive the same scrutiny,” the SEC complaint detailed. “Loudon’s wife responded that they would.”

A week later, Loudon admitted to his wife that he had illegally traded the TravelCenter shares “to make enough money so that she did not have to work long hours anymore,” according to the SEC.

Loudon’s wife reported her husband’s insider trading to her BP supervisor but she was later fired from the company. She filed to divorce Loudon in June, according to the SEC complaint.

Environment

China overhauls EV charging: 100,000 ultra-fast public stations by 2027

Published

4 hours ago

July 9, 2025

admin

China overhauls EV charging: 100,000 ultra-fast public stations by 2027

China just laid out a plan to roll out over 100,000 ultra-fast EV charging stations by 2027 – and they’ll all be open to the public.

The National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) joint notice, issued on Monday, asks local authorities to put together construction plans for highway service areas and prioritize the ones that see 40% or more usage during holiday travel rushes.

The NDRC notes that China’s ultra-fast EV charging infrastructure needs upgrading as more 800V EVs hit the road. Those high-voltage platforms can handle super-fast charging in as little as 10 to 30 minutes, but only if the charging hardware is up to speed.

China had 31.4 million EVs on the road at the end of 2024 – nearly 9% of the country’s total vehicle fleet. But charging access is still catching up. As of May 2025, there were 14.4 million charging points, or roughly 1 for every 2.2 EVs.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

To keep the grid running smoothly, China wants new chargers to be smart, with dynamic pricing to incentivize off-peak charging and solar and storage to power the charging stations.

To make the business side work, the government is pushing for 10-year leases for charging station operators, and it’s backing the buildout with local government bonds.

The NDRC emphasized that the DC fast chargers built will be open to the public. This is a big deal because a lot of fast chargers in China aren’t. For example, BYD’s new megawatt chargers aren’t open to third-party vehicles.

As of September 2024, China had expanded its charging infrastructure to 11.4 million EV chargers, but only 3.3 million were public.

If you live in an area that has frequent natural disaster events, and are interested in making your home more resilient to power outages, consider going solar and adding a battery storage system. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Environment

Two charged in $650 million global crypto scam that promised 300% returns

Published

6 hours ago

July 8, 2025

admin

Two charged in 0 million global crypto scam that promised 300% returns

A U.S. Justice Department logo or seal showing Justice Department headquarters, known as “Main Justice,” is seen behind the podium in the Department’s headquarters briefing room before a news conference with the Attorney General in Washington, January 24, 2023.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

Federal prosecutors have charged two men in connection with a sprawling cryptocurrency investment scheme that defrauded victims out of more than $650 million.

The indictment, unsealed in the District of Puerto Rico, accuses Michael Shannon Sims, 48, of Georgia and Florida, and Juan Carlos Reynoso, 57, of New Jersey and Florida, of operating and promoting OmegaPro, an international crypto multi-level marketing scheme that promised investors 300% returns over 16 months through foreign exchange trading.

“This case exposes the ruthless reality of modern financial crime,” said the Internal Revenue Service’s Chief of Criminal Investigations Guy Ficco. “OmegaPro promised financial freedom but delivered financial ruin.”

From 2019 to 2023, Sims, Reynoso and their co-conspirators allegedly lured thousands of victims worldwide to purchase “investment packages” using cryptocurrency, falsely claiming the funds would be safely managed by elite forex traders, the Department of Justice said.

Prosecutors said the pair flaunted their wealth through social media and extravagant events — including projecting the OmegaPro logo onto the Burj Khalifa, Dubai’s tallest building — to convince investors the operation was legitimate.

A video posted to the company’s LinkedIn page shows guests in evening attire posing for photos and watching the spectacle in Dubai.

Tesla forced to refund $10,000 FSD payment and 0% interest on Cybertruck

Published

7 hours ago

July 8, 2025

admin

Tesla forced to refund ,000 FSD payment and 0% interest on Cybertruck

Tesla is starting to experience some consequences for misleading Full Self Driving customers – at least that’s the finding of one arbitration ruling that has Tesla refunding one customer $10,000 plus legal fees for failing to deliver on their promises. Find out more on today’s legally challenging episode of Quick Charge!

An arbitration “court” found that Tesla misled customers with its Full Self Driving product, and has now been forced to refund at least one person’s $10,000 payment (plus legal fees) for the not-quite autonomous driving software. France, too, is piling on claims of deceptive business practices – but there’s some good news for FSD fans! If you’re still willing to pay for it, Tesla will thrown in 0% financing on a brand new Cybertruck.

Check out the relevant links, below, to learn more.

Source Links

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

Got news? Let us know!
Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.

If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.