BP exec’s husband made $1.76M from insider trading by snooping in on her calls while working from home

The husband of a former BP merger and acquisitions manager has admitted making nearly $1.8 million with info he got from eavesdropping on his wife’s phone calls while she worked remotely.

Tyler Loudon, 42, of Houston, pleaded guilty to securities fraud Thursday from using info he got from listening into his wife — who has since filed for divorce and been fired by the oil and gas conglomerate.

The couple was working remotely together in a small Airbnb during a trip to Rome in December 2022 as the wife — who was not otherwise identified — handled BP’s possible acquisition of TravelCenters of America, a gas and truck stop operator, CNBC reported. 

They later continued to work from home “in close quarters,” according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil complaint that said their rooms were within “20 feet of each other.”

Loudon’s wife acknowledged that she had occasionally discussed the acquisition with him in “normal” married-couple types of conversations, according to the outlet.

Over several months, Loudon acquired 46,450 shares of TravelCenters without telling her, according to the US Attorney’s Office.

When TravelCenters announced the London-based BP acquisition on Feb. 16, 2023, triggering its 71% stock jump, Loudon sold all of the shares and made $1.76 million, officials said.

In March 2023, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority asked the oil and gas conglomerate for a list of everyone who was “in the know” about the acquisition before it happened, according to CNBC.

A former BP worker who had worked on the acquisition later told Loudon’s wife about having to disclose her address and other personal details to comply with the FINRA request.

When Loudon’s wife told him about her conversation with the former employee, he asked her “if current employees would receive the same scrutiny. Loudon’s wife responded that they would,” according to the SEC.

Loudon later admitted to his wife that he had illegally traded the shares “to make enough money so that she did not have to work long hours anymore,” according to the filing.

His wife reported her husband’s illegal activities to her supervisor but she was later fired from BP — and she filed for divorce in June.

Loudon pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to forfeit the money he made illegally, the US Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

He will be sentenced May 17, when he faces up to five years in federal prison and a possible fine of up to $250,000.

“Mr. Loudon made a terrible mistake in judgment for which he has taken full responsibility,” Loudon’s lawyer, Peter Zeidenberg, told CNBC.