BROOKLYN, NY (June 22, 2026) — A Larchmont broker was among four men who have now pleaded guilty to securities fraud in connection with a multi-year insider trading scheme that generated more than $1 million in illicit profits, federal prosecutors announced.
David Cooper, 40, of Larchmont, a broker registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, pleaded guilty to securities fraud on September 22, 2025, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Cooper’s three co-defendants — John Lowe, 63, of Sayville; Richard Ringel, 56, of Boca Raton, Florida; and Randy Grewal, 55, of Anthem, Arizona — have also pleaded guilty in the case. Lowe and Ringel entered their guilty pleas Monday in federal court in Brooklyn before United States Magistrate Judge Taryn A. Merkl, while Grewal pleaded guilty on April 30, 2026.
Each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison when sentenced, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment and other court filings, between approximately January 2018 and May 2024, the defendants conspired to obtain material non-public information (MNPI) about upcoming secondary stock offerings and trade on that information before the offerings became public. Cooper and another employee of an unnamed broker-dealer obtained the MNPI from investment banks underwriting the offerings, prosecutors said. The information included the identity of the company conducting the offering, the timing and structure of the deal, and the price at which shares would be offered.
Employees of the broker-dealer disclosed the inside information to Lowe, Ringel and others, knowing they intended to use it to execute short sales ahead of public announcements of the offerings, according to prosecutors. Lowe then passed the information to Grewal. Lowe, Ringel and Grewal illegally profited more than $1 million trading on the information, prosecutors said.
Evidence from judicially authorized wiretaps showed that between approximately January and May 2023, Cooper and another broker-dealer employee, identified in court papers as “Co-Conspirator #1,” obtained MNPI from underwriters on several secondary offerings, including those of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: CSSE), Revelation Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: REVB) and Tivic Health Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVC), and passed the information to Lowe, Ringel and others.
In the CSSE offering, prosecutors said Cooper obtained MNPI about the deal’s timing and pricing from the sole managing underwriter on March 30, 2023, and shared it with Ringel and Co-Conspirator #1, who passed it to Lowe. All three then traded on the information, and Lowe tipped Grewal, who also traded, according to the indictment.
In the REVB offering, Lowe obtained MNPI about the deal’s timing from a representative of the sole underwriter between February 6 and 8, 2023, and passed it to Grewal, who traded on it, prosecutors said. Separately, Ringel traded REVB between February 7 and 9, 2023, based on MNPI that Cooper received from another underwriter representative.
In the TIVC offering, Cooper called a representative of the sole managing underwriter on or about February 6, 2023, prosecutors said. The next day, Co-Conspirator #1 told Lowe that TIVC planned a secondary offering. Lowe then traded in TIVC and passed the information to Grewal, who also traded. Between February 6 and 8, 2023, Ringel and Cooper spoke by phone numerous times, and Cooper executed several short sales in TIVC. On February 8, minutes after speaking with Ringel, Ringel executed additional short sales in the stock, according to prosecutors.
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said the defendants “brazenly exploited their access to inside information to gain an unfair advantage over the investing public,” adding that insider trading “destroys the public’s faith in the fairness and integrity of our markets.”
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section and the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The docket number is E.D.N.Y. 25-CR-10 (DG).
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
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