CA, US & World
Ex-Minor League Baseball Players Get Time Served in SD Insider Trading Case
SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Three former minor league baseball players who
pleaded guilty to profiting from inside information involving Del Taco stock
were sentenced in San Diego federal court Friday to credit for time served.
Jordan Joseph Qsar, Grant Lee Witherspoon, and Austin Lane Bernard
purchased Del Taco stock, then sold the shares after Qsar learned that Jack in
the Box was acquiring Del Taco.
Prosecutors say Qsar learned of the acquisition from a friend who
personally worked on the Del Taco deal as a senior associate in Jack in the
Box's strategic finance department.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Qsar then shared that
information with Witherspoon and Bernard, whom he knew through playing minor
league baseball in the Tampa Bay Rays' system and college baseball at
Pepperdine University.
The trio then purchased Del Taco stock and sold it in the days after
the acquisition went public in late 2021, netting them between $42,768 and
$64,693.
In prosecutors' sentencing documents, they wrote that Qsar's friend
was not criminally charged because it was not clear that he intended to commit
insider trading. More than a dozen other people who profited from the
information were also not charged ``because it was difficult to assess their
intent,'' prosecutors wrote.
The prosecution and defense attorneys jointly recommended sentences of
time served. Prosecutors did not recommend custody, as they wrote that each
man's felony conviction would serve as a sufficient deterrent.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also brought cases against
the trio, all of which settled in 2024.
Copyright 2026, City News Service, Inc.
By: City News Service
August 2, 2026
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