MIAMI – A federal judge sentenced a former executive for the energy drink company Celsius Holdings, Inc. on Monday after he pleaded guilty to a $1.6 million insider trading scheme.
According to prosecutors, Stephen George, of Parkland, was the former vice president and controller of the Boca Raton-based publicly traded company.
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Investigators accused George, 54, of using two personal email accounts to email himself the company’s material non-public information.
After his last day of employment with the company in 2023, George bought 20,000 shares of Celsius Holdings common stock and 300 call option contracts.
FBI Miami agents reported George did so knowing that the price would increase because there were better-than-expected earnings and sales for the first quarter, including an all-time quarterly record in revenue, according to prosecutors.
During the next trading day, George sold all 20,000 shares of common stock and 300 call option contracts, which resulted in over $1.6 million in personal profits, according to prosecutors.
George pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in February and a judge sentenced him to 13 months in prison and ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine, over $200,000 in restitution, and $1.6 million in forfeiture.
Correction: An earlier version of this article contained a photo of Celsius’ current CEO instead of Stephen George. The photo has been removed. We apologize for the error.