Bank of America banker accused of insider trading by SEC over $8.1B deal

The SEC has accused Jason Satsky, a former senior investment banker at Bank of America, of insider trading tied to one of the largest utility acquisitions in recent memory. The case centers on the $8.1 billion takeover of South Jersey Industries in 2022, a deal Satsky personally advised on.

The allegation is straightforward: Satsky allegedly leaked material nonpublic information about the acquisition before it was publicly announced. When the deal was disclosed, South Jersey Industries’ stock jumped roughly 40%. Someone, according to regulators, knew that spike was coming.

The deal at the center of it all

South Jersey Industries, a regional energy infrastructure company, agreed to sell itself to a JPMorgan-backed fund in a transaction valued at $8.1 billion. Satsky was part of the Bank of America team that advised on the deal. In that role, he would have had access to the kind of confidential information that could make someone very wealthy if shared with the right person at the right time.

The investigation focuses on whether Satsky tipped off an individual with details about the pending acquisition. The US Department of Justice has been examining the matter for over a year, probing the flow of information around the transaction and who might have traded on it before the news went public.

Satsky’s exit from Bank of America

After the bank learned of the federal investigation, Satsky was placed on leave. He was ultimately terminated in March 2025, a move that coincided with broader job cuts at the firm.

The DOJ investigation had been running for more than a year without formal charges as of early 2025.

Why this matters beyond one banker

Every investor who sold South Jersey Industries shares in the days before the announcement, unaware of what insiders allegedly knew, left money on the table that someone else picked up.

The South Jersey Industries deal was significant not just for its size but for the sector it touched. Energy infrastructure transactions have been attracting massive private capital in recent years, with infrastructure funds and pension-backed vehicles competing aggressively for regulated utility assets. These deals involve long timelines, multiple advisors, and broad information sharing among deal teams, all of which create more opportunities for leaks.