Marin County executive compensation consultant charged with securities fraud

A Novato executive compensation consultant was arrested on charges he used inside information to earn more than $400,000 on a stock deal, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York reported.

Frank B. Glassner, 68, is accused in the action announced Tuesday by federal prosecutors of using “nonpublic” information from a consulting client, Kadmon Holdings, a New York pharmaceutical firm incorporated in 2009. It started negotiations last summer to be acquired by Sanofi S.A., a global biomedical company. The acquisition, valued at $1.9 billion according to Biospace.com, closed last November.

According to the complaint, Glassner “reactivated access to a dormant brokerage account” within 30 minutes of learning Sanofi’s intent to buy the company. The account, which was inactive from April 2018 to August 2021, started with a balance of $356.81. He purchased 23,500 shares of Kadmon common stock valued at more than $100,000 once the sale was approved by the board of directors. The price of shares traded as KDMN increased by about 71%, earning Glassner approximately $405,000 in profit.

Glassner, who was taken into custody in San Francisco, is due to appear in New York on June 6. He faces two counts of securities fraud. The first brings a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine, and 25 years behind bars and other assessments and restitution on the second count.

In addition to the U.S. Department of Justice charges, the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission has also filed a complaint against Glassner.

“This type of illicit action makes markets unfair and creates an atmosphere of distrust,” FBI Assistant Director-in-charge Michael J. Driscoll said in a statement.

Phone calls to the number listed under the consulting firm he took over in 2009, Veritas Executive Compensation Consultants, were unanswered. Calls and emails to Kadmon Holdings (now Corporation) were also unreturned. No attorney of record for Glassner was listed in court filings.

Glassner’s website reports he worked as national director of Deloitte & Touche Strategic Rewards Practice, a British-based multi-national professional services firm, and as a manager of projects for KPMG, an accounting company in the United Kingdom.

His services listed bankruptcy reorganization, board of directors’ compensation and governance and litigation support as specialties.

Susan Wood covers law, cannabis, production, tech, energy, transportation, agriculture as well as banking and finance. For 27 years, Susan has worked for a variety of publications including the North County Times, Tahoe Daily Tribune and Lake Tahoe News. Reach her at 530-545-8662 or susan.wood@busjrnl.com

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