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Where, oh where is David Pajcin?: The former Goldman analyst / Eugene Plotkin's insider trading ring co-conspirator may or may not have fled the country

It's been ages since we've heard anything about any of the guys from the insider trader ring that included former Harvard educated ballroom dancer extraordinaire and wannabe novelist/screenwriter Eugene Plotkin, who was one of the masterminds of the well publicized global insider trading ring uncovered in 2006 featuring strippers, a Croatian seamstress, a U.S. Postal worker, BusinessWeek employees and a Russian bath house.  Plotkin was sentenced in January of this year to serve 4 years and nine months in prison, along with a $10K fine and forfeiture of $6.7 million in ill gotten gains.

Now, it seems, his partner in crime, David Pajcin, a former Goldman analyst has gone missing and is in violation of his probation agreement; it's suspected that he may have left the country. Maybe.  Pajcin had pleaded guilty, cooperated with prosecutors, and was also sentenced in January to around 2 years in prison --  time he'd already served.  So if he's fled, it's unclear why, since he wasn't facing more jail time.  Bizarre.  There's gotta be more to this story.  According to Bloomberg:

Insider trading ring leader Eugene Plotkin finally sentenced

It was finally the day of reckoning for former Harvard graduate / ex-Goldman Sachs analyst / insider trading ring mastermind Eugene Plotkin.  He'll be going 'away' for nearly five years.....

Eugene Plotkin finally pleads guilty of insider trading

Former Goldman Sachs analyst, Harvard educated ballroom dancer extraordinaire and wannabe novelist/screenwriter Eugene Plotkin, who masterminded last year's well publicized global insider trading ring featuring strippers, a Croatian seamstress, a U.S. Postal worker, BusinessWeek employees, a Russian bath house and oh so much more, finally pleaded guilty.  (Yah, we know....that was one very long sentence!):

Plotkin admitted today to one count of conspiracy and eight of insider trading. He faces a maximum of 165 years in prison on all counts, prosecutors said. He agreed to forfeit $6.7 million.

``I understand what I did was wrong and against the law,'' he told U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman in federal court in New York.

The devil made me do it: Shpigelman claims he was "intimidated and flattered" into spilling info to insider trading ring

Stanislav Shpigelman, the former Merrill Lynch analyst at the center of an insider-trading ring, is arguing that he was "deceived, intimidated and flattered" into providing the illegal information to his cohorts, according to a recent legal filing.

The former mergers and acquisition analyst - long one of the most sensitive posts on Wall Street - Shpigelman was sentenced to 37 months in prison last month for his role in a wide-ranging insider trading plot.

He provided the tips for collaborators and former Goldman Sachs analysts David Pajcin and Eugene Plotkin to trade on.

In papers filed last week seeking clemency, Shpigelman's lawyer paints a picture of a man whose initial mistake in providing illegal information was compounded when his associates in the ring used intimidation and deception to draw him in further.

Shpigelman Was Bullied To Give Info: Lawyer - New York Post

Merrill analyst gets 37 months in jail for his insider trading ring role

Merrill Lynch analyst Stanislav Shpigelman got 37 months in prison for leaking deal information to the insider trading ring masterminded by former Goldman Sachs analysts Eugene Plotkin and David Pajcin -- at the lower end of the 37 to 46 months federal sentencing guidelines.  According to Bloomberg, he's the first banker to draw jail time in a big insider trading case.  He's the second person sentenced -- postal employee Jason Smith was sentenced last month to 33 months in jail for leaking confidential grand jury information to Plotkin and Pajcin.

Shpigelman, 24, a former analyst in Merrill's mergers-and- acquisitions division, told U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas today he was ``sorry'' for giving secret information about pending mergers to two junior employees at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Eugene Plotkin and David Pajcin, who bought shares in companies targeted for takeover.

``I realize what I've done is inexcusable,'' Shpigelman said in Manhattan federal court. ``I do beg for leniency.''

Plotkin insider trading defendant who leaked Grand Jury info gets 33 months in the pokey

Jason Smith, a former postal worker who was a member of the insider trading ring masterminded by former Goldman Sachs employees Eugene Plotkin and David Pajcin was sentenced to 33 months in jail for his role in the plot:

The ex-postal worker was accused of relaying information that he learned while serving on a grand jury panel looking at Bristol-Myers' accounting practices to Pajcin, a high-school friend, and Plotkin.

Pajcin agreed to cooperate with authorities, while Plotkin and another defendant are awaiting trial in April on insider trading and other charges. Two other defendants accused of participating in the insider trading network have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

In addition to his prison term, Smith also was sentenced to three years of supervised release and a $6,000 fine. He is to report to prison on Jan. 29

Ex-postal worker gets jail time for insider trading - Reuters

Another guilty plea in Plotkin insider trading ring

Another Plotkin insider trading ring participant pleaded guilty yesterday to his part in the scheme.  Nickolaus Schuster, 25,  who worked at a Business Week print shop, acted as a mole and fed information from pre-publication copies of the magazine to Eugene Plotkin and David Pajcin.

Nickolaus Shuster, 25, faces a maximum of 25 years behind bars for his role in the bizarre trading ring, which also included an exotic dancer, a retired Croatian underwear seamstress, a New Jersey mailman and a crooked banker inside Merrill Lynch.

Shuster is believed to be cooperating with investigators.

As part of his guilty plea, he agreed to forfeit $20,000 - the total he was paid by the trading ring's masterminds, Eugene Plotkin and David Pajcin, for leaking the information, which helped rack up hundreds of thousands of the ring's $6.7 million in ill-gotten gains.

Biz Week Mole Guilty In Scheme - New York Post

Plotkin Insider Trading Ring: "Partners In Crime"

Fortune Magazine's current edition features a fascinating in-depth piece on the insider trading ring (covered extensively by WSF since the news broke) that snared former Goldman Sachs analysts Eugene Plotkin (pictured at left) and David Pajcin (pictured below), former Merrill Lynch analyst Stanislav Shpigelman, and a cast of characters including Croatians, a stripper/exotic dancer, a US Mail employee and workers at Business Week's printer.   Plotkin gave his first interview since his arrest to Fortune, in the presense of his lawyer.  He doesn't talk about the case -- he still maintains his innocence even though Pajcin, Shpigelman and others in the pervasive ring have already caved, are cooperating with the feds, and have copped pleas. 

When Plotkin spoke to Fortune in early September, he talked about his plans for the future. They don't include Wall Street. His current ambition is to become a novelist and screenwriter like Michael Crichton. "I'd love to do something with writing or something creative," Plotkin says. "I never thought of it as a career choice before, but maybe I was wrong not to."

His lawyer, Edward Little, wouldn't comment on any of the specifics of the case. "What's happening to Gene is a real-life rendition of the movie he made," he says. "The bad guy in the movie is the government cooperator trying to shift blame for what he did to the good guy. Gene played the good guy there too."

Indeed, toward the end of his script, Plotkin's hero pleads, "I just want my life back."

To which Pajcin's sinister drug dealer responds, "Sorry, bud, but I don't think that's gonna happen." 

Craigslistspotting: Wall Street Bath & Spa 88

This Craigslist poster is interested in Wall Street Bath & Spa 88: "Has anyone been to the MEN ONLY nights, Tuesdays 9-11 p.m.? What's it like? Thanks."

Memo to poster:  You might want to get hold of the finally-out-on-bail insider trading ring leader Eugene Plotkin or his associate Stan Shpigelman --- they seem to have at least a passing familiarity with Spa 88 and might be able to give you some tips....