Benjamin Taylor and Darina Windsor

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 26509 / March 27, 2026

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Benjamin Taylor, et al., No. 19-cv-09744 (S.D.N.Y. filed Oct. 22, 2019)

SEC Obtains Final Consent Judgments as to Benjamin Taylor and Darina Windsor in Alleged Insider Trading Case

On February 17, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered final consent judgments as to Benjamin Taylor and Darina Windsor, two former investment bankers charged by the SEC in an alleged multi-year insider trading scheme.

According to the SEC’s amended complaint, filed on March, 27, 2020, Taylor and Windsor, while working as investment bankers in London, participated in an international insider trading scheme that netted its participants tens of millions of dollars in illicit profits from trading in the securities of U.S. companies. As alleged, Taylor and Windsor misappropriated material nonpublic information about impending corporate transactions from the London-based investment banking firms where they were employed, tipped that information through an intermediary to other individuals who used it to trade securities, and shared in the resulting proceeds of the illegal securities transactions.

The final judgments permanently enjoin Taylor and Windsor from violating Sections 10(b) and 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5 and Rule 14e-3 thereunder, order Taylor to pay disgorgement of $500,000, and order Windsor to pay disgorgement of $50,000 and a civil penalty of $50,000.

The SEC’s investigation and litigation were conducted by Michael Foster of the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office, Rua Kelly of the SEC’s Boston Regional Office, and Assunta Vivolo, John Rymas, and Joseph Sansone of the Division of Enforcement’s Market Abuse Unit. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and the UK Financial Conduct Authority.