Feds: Insider trading netted Bucks lawyer $75,000

A Doylestown lawyer was indicted Thursday for allegedly using advance knowledge about his clients' activities to make illegal stock purchases in 2011, netting him about $75,000 in profit, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Herbert Sudfeld, 64, listed as a partner at the Bucks County law firm Curtin & Heefner, was charged with one count of insider trading for allegedly buying stock in a company he represented the day before a merger, then selling those shares for an 85 percent return a day later, once the deal was announced, according to the indictment.

Sudfeld also faces three counts of making false statements for allegedly lying to FBI agents during their investigation, the indictment said.

Sudfeld's attorney, Robert Welsh, said Sudfeld would enter a not guilty plea on Monday, but declined to elaborate.

Welsh did say he expected the Securities and Exchange Commission to file a civil suit against Sudfeld, which he said was typical given the allegations in the case.

Sudfeld, according to the indictment, was involved in brokering a merger between the Harleysville Group and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. in 2011.

On Sept. 28 that year, a day before the merger was complete, the indictment said, Sudfeld - then a partner at a law firm the indictment does not name - had his stockbroker buy 3,000 shares of Harleysville stock for Sudfeld and his wife.

The indictment does not list the stock price, but does say the shares were trading for around $32 that day.

On Sept. 29, a day later, the merger was publicly announced and Sudfeld sold all 3,000 shares for $58.30 per share, netting him about $75,000 in profit, the indictment alleges.

If convicted, prosecutors said, Sudfeld could face a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and a fine of more than $5 million.