SEC Charges Former Bank of America Banker Satsky, Alleges He Tipped Friend to $18.5 Million Insider Trading Profit

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges Friday against Jason Satsky, a former senior Bank of America investment banker, accusing him of insider trading. The SEC says Satsky tipped off a longtime friend about a pending merger, letting that friend walk away with $18.5 million in illegal profit.

Satsky, 59, was Bank of America's co-head of Americas power and renewable energy banking. According to the SEC's complaint, he told Gavin Wolfe in late 2021 about a potential acquisition of South Jersey Industries, an energy holding company Bank of America was advising at the time.

Wolfe, 55, runs a firm called Evergreen Capital, which manages Wolfe family assets. He and Satsky have been friends for more than 20 years. The SEC alleges Wolfe used that friendship to buy more than 2.2 million shares of South Jersey Industries' parent company, worth roughly $53 million.

The payoff came February 24, 2022, when South Jersey Industries announced an $8.1 billion buyout. The stock jumped, and the SEC says Wolfe walked away with a 36% gain, netting the alleged $18.5 million.

The SEC's complaint details specific contact between the two men, including a night at Madison Square Garden. Satsky and Wolfe, along with their wives, reportedly watched a nationally televised Duke-Kentucky basketball game from a luxury box Satsky had obtained through Bank of America. The SEC alleges the two discussed the potential acquisition multiple times, including on that occasion.

Both men are fighting the allegations. Robert Anello, Satsky's attorney, said in a statement that his client "strongly denies the SEC's allegations" and "did not provide Gavin Wolfe, or anyone else, with material nonpublic information regarding South Jersey Industries." Anello says the evidence will fully vindicate Satsky.

Reed Brodsky, representing Wolfe, said his client "categorically denies the allegations and will vigorously defend himself." Brodsky went further, arguing the SEC ignored sworn testimony and documents showing Wolfe bought the South Jersey shares based on an "independent investment thesis," not inside information.

Wolfe's career path put him next to Satsky for over a decade. He worked as a senior power and renewable energy banker at Credit Suisse before both men joined Bank of America in 2012, according to Reuters. Bank of America has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case and confirmed Satsky no longer works there. The bank terminated him in March 2025, per the SEC.

Some reports have noted that the U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly been investigating the same trading activity for more than a year, examining who may have traded on advance knowledge of the deal before it went public. As of that reporting, no criminal charges tied to that DOJ probe had been filed. Whether the SEC's civil case and any parallel DOJ inquiry are moving in tandem, or whether prosecutors passed on criminal charges, hasn't been made clear in the available record.

The SEC's lawsuit seeks to claw back Wolfe's alleged ill-gotten gains, plus civil fines, and wants officer-and-director bans imposed on both Satsky and Wolfe. Evergreen Capital did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

The case now heads toward litigation, where Satsky and Wolfe's lawyers say they intend to present sworn testimony and documentation they claim the SEC brushed aside. Whether that evidence holds up, and whether the DOJ ultimately brings its own charges, remains to be seen.