BATON ROUGE, LA – Acting United States Attorney Corey Amundson announced today that three more individuals have been charged with insider trading in connection with the acquisition of the Shaw Group. A federal grand jury sitting in the Middle District of Louisiana has indicted KELLY LIU, age 31, SALVADOR RUSSO, III, age 34, both of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and VICTORY HO, age 38, of Morgan City, Louisiana, with conspiracy to commit securities fraud (insider trading), in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, and securities fraud (insider trading), in violation of Title 15, United States Code, Sections 78j(b) and 78ff, and Title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 240.10b-5 and 240.10b5-1. If convicted, each face significant incarceration, fines, restitution, and supervised release following imprisonment.

The Indictment alleges that from on or before July 18, 2012, and continuing to at least July 30, 2012, LIU and her boyfriend RUSSO, along with associate HO, engaged in a scheme to profit from inside information about the upcoming merger between The Shaw Group (“Shaw”) and Chicago Bridge and Iron Company (“CB&I”).

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment, which was returned by the grand jury earlier today, in mid-2012, Shaw was considering a potential merger opportunity. At the time, LIU was a Shaw employee working in the Financial Planning and Analysis Department. In late July 2012, Shaw and CB&I came to an agreement whereby CB&I acquired all outstanding shares of Shaw stock. The merger between the two companies was publicly announced on July 30, 2012 (“the public announcement”). As a result of the public announcement, Shaw’s stock price rose substantially.

The Indictment alleges that, prior to the public announcement and through her job at Shaw, LIU obtained inside information that Shaw was being acquired by another company and passed the inside information to HO, through another individual, and to RUSSO, for their use in trading Shaw securities. Thereafter, HO and RUSSO allegedly purchased Shaw securities before the public announcement. HO sold his Shaw securities after the public announcement had caused Shaw’s stock price to rise, while RUSSO held his Shaw securities, all at the expense of Shaw shareholders and potential Shaw shareholders who were not privy to the inside information. The Indictment also alleges that HO made over $294,000, and RUSSO over $2,500 in unrealized profits, from their illegal insider trading activities.

Prior to the Indictment announced today, three other individuals have been charged in the Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana with securities fraud offenses related to the Shaw merger. One defendant has pled guilty, and the remaining two are scheduled for trial.

Acting U.S. Attorney Amundson stated: “Insider trading undermines investor confidence in the fairness and integrity of the securities markets, and cheats those honest investors who play by the rules. My office will continue to work aggressively with our excellent partners with the FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigations, the U.S. Secret Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and others to pursue such important matters whenever merited.”

This matter is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana and the Baton Rouge offices of the FBI, Secret Service, and IRS-Criminal Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Chris Dippel, Patricia Jones, and Adam Ptashkin.

NOTE: An indictment is an accusation by the Grand Jury. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless adjudicated guilty at trial or through a guilty plea.