3 Equifax Executives Sold Stock Days After Hack That Wasn't Disclosed For A Month
September 8, 20172:30 PM ET
Three executives of the credit-reporting agency Equifax sold nearly $2 million worth of company stock within days of a massive data breach potentially affecting 143 million Americans — one that wasn't publicly disclosed until more than a month later.
Hackers Accessed The Personal Data Of 143 Million People, Equifax Says
In a statement, Equifax says the executives "had no knowledge that an intrusion had occurred at the time they sold their shares."
Equifax revealed the security breach late Thursday. On Friday, its stock price went sliding by double digits as millions of Americans struggled to get answers from the company about whether they were affected and what to do next. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has opened an investigation into the hack.
The credit reporting company has said that it discovered "unauthorized access" to its systems on July 29. The intrusion potentially jeopardized sensitive details including names, birthdates, Social Security and driver's license numbers. The hackers also stole credit card numbers for 209,000 consumers.
Regulatory filings show the three Equifax executives — Chief Financial Officer John Gamble, U.S. Information Solutions President Joseph Loughran and Workforce Solutions President Rodolfo Ploder — completed stock sales on Aug. 1 and 2.
Bloomberg, which first located the filings, reports that "none of the filings lists the transactions as being part of 10b5-1 scheduled trading plans."
The statement from Equifax notes that the executives sold "a small percentage of their Equifax shares" before they knew of the cybersecurity breach — and that the company "acted immediately to stop the intrusion" after discovering it.
Meanwhile, many consumers trying to figure out the fate of their own personal information are left puzzled by the company's sputtering response so far.
Equifax has set up a website (www.equifaxsecurity2017.com) and a call center (866-447-7559) to offer help. As is common with data breaches, consumers are offered a free credit-monitoring service. Equifax is offering its own program, TrustedID Premier, for a year.
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