Morning Coffee: 'Motivated' boyfriend stole secrets from banking girlfriend's laptop. Greenhill CEO's incentive for Mizuho sale now amply clear

efinancialcareers.com:

If you're working from home and your laptop contains references to secret things like upcoming deals, you probably shouldn't leave it unattended while you go out for a bit. But if you were to do that thing, you might think it would be fine with your boyfriend if he were a 'skilled and motivated compliance officer' whose job depended upon his probity.

Unfortunately, Steven Teixera succumbed to temptation. He has since pleaded guilty to insider trading. In its complaint relating to the affair, the SEC details how Teixera, who was a compliance officer at a different firm, went about extracting information from his the laptop belonging to his girlfriend, who was an executive assistant in a top investment bank in New York. 

First, he gave her a device that jiggled her mouse when she was away from her desk. This prevented the laptop from being locked down and meant that Teixera didn't have to log to access anything. 

Liberated from the need to hang about near her laptop while she worked from home, Teixera's executive assistant (EA) girlfriend then seems to have decided not to work so hard. The SEC says she would 'often' leave the apartment or leave the laptop unattended during the workday.

When she did, she would ask Teixera to check her work emails and to let her know if there was anything that needed her attention. While his girlfriend was out, Teixera was tasked with scanning her inbox. But he wasn't supposed to act upon the confidential information discovered there. 

It was only a matter of time before every bank's compliance nightmare came to pass. In late 2020, the SEC says Teixera started searching his girlfriend's inbox specifically for information on valuation and fairness committee meetings relating to mergers and