All About Arthur Cutillo, Alleged Insider Trader

Arthur Cutillo, a 32 year-old associate at the prestigious New York law firm of Ropes & Gray and a graduate with honors from Rutgers University and Villanova Law School was arrested by the FBI, along with 13 others, on insider trading charges. We found an exclusive interviewer bio where Cutillo, a resident of Ridgewood, New Jersey, describes himself in his own words:

I am a third year associate practicing in the firm’s litigation group, with an emphasis on intellectual property litigation.  I graduated from Villanova School of Law in 2005, where I was an Associate Editor of the Villanova Environmental Law Journal and President of the Intellectual Property Society.

The Intellectual Property Cutillo had access to at Ropes & Gray was the perfect position from which to dole out secret advice to greedy clients and friends. The charges against him, according to the Security Exchange Commission website are as follows:

Cutillo misappropriated from his law firm material, nonpublic information concerning at least four corporate acquisitions involving Ropes & Gray clients — the 2007 acquisition announcements of ADS, Avaya, 3Com, and Axcan. Cutillo illegally tipped that information, through his friend and fellow attorney Jason Goldfarb, to Zvi Goffer, a proprietary trader Schottenfeld, in exchange for kickbacks.

How did he land in this most dubious of positions only four years out of law school? It seems he was grooming himself from an early age to achieve great positions of privilege:

I received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rutgers University in 1999, and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Villanova University in 2004.  Following my undergraduate work, I worked at Merck in a variety of roles, including managing day to day operations at a vaccine manufacturing facility and quality review of products for worldwide distribution.

As an associate, I quickly obtained significant responsibility and have worked on numerous matters.  Primarily I have worked on intellectual property litigation in various industries, including the pharmaceutical, semiconductor and electronics industry, as well as a patent interference.  I’ve also had the opportunity to work on some non-IP related litigation, including mutual funds.  In addition to work in litigation, I have had the opportunity to pursue other interests.  In particular, I worked on a pro bono case in which our client was granted asylum in the United States.  I have also been involved with internal projects with the general litigation group and the corporate IP group.

I currently live in New Jersey with my wife and son.  Though I live in New Jersey, I still enjoy all that the city has to offer.  In my spare time, I enjoy running, biking, skiing and golf.

Click The Image Below To See Arthur Cutillo’s Interview Bio

While at Villanova Law School, Cutillo was President of the Married Law Students/Law Students with Children group which advocated for those law students who, in addition to trying to study 23 hours a day, had family worries on their shoulders. Did his financial responsibilities to his own family drive Cutillo to hoard tons of money?

At Rutgers, Cutillo graduated a Slade Scholar, further documenting that this guy has always been driven. And maybe just a little too entitled.