Three former minor league baseball players who cashed in on a secret Del Taco stock tip before the taco chain was swallowed up by Jack in the Box won’t spend a day behind bars.
Jordan Joseph Qsar, 30, Austin Lane Bernard, 31, and Grant Lee Witherspoon, 29, were sentenced Friday in San Diego federal court to time served after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud in the insider trading scheme.
None of the trio ever made it to the major leagues.
Prosecutors said the scheme began in October 2021 when Qsar learned from a former Pepperdine University baseball teammate, who worked in Jack in the Box‘s strategic finance department, that the San Diego burger chain was preparing to buy Del Taco.
Instead of keeping the deal under wraps, Qsar tipped Bernard and Witherspoon, according to court records.
The three bought Del Taco stock before Jack in the Box announced its $575 million acquisition in December 2021.
After the deal became public, Del Taco shares surged 66%, allowing the former ballplayers to cash out.
Qsar illegally pocketed about $56,000, Bernard made roughly $64,600 and Witherspoon collected about $42,000.
The tip kept spreading.
Bernard and Witherspoon passed the information to others, prosecutors said, helping 19 people collectively rake in about $325,000 in illegal profits.
Even though prosecutors called the crime the product of “greed and recklessness,” they recommended no prison time, arguing the felony convictions themselves were enough punishment after the men spent more than two years on pretrial release without incident.
US District Judge Dana Sabraw agreed.
“This incident arose out of friendship, not a scheme,” Sabraw said. “The manner you chose to move forward is remarkable.”
The judge added that insider trading remains a serious offense, even while calling it a “victimless crime.”
Federal prosecutors announced the case in March 2024, while the Securities and Exchange Commission filed parallel civil charges.
Qsar and Witherspoon have repaid their illegal profits plus interest to settle with the SEC.
Bernard told the court he has not yet repaid the money because he has struggled financially while looking for work.
“There is no version of this where I was not wrong, and I have stopped looking for one,” Qsar said in court. “I think about it constantly, and I am ashamed of it.”
Witherspoon, who now works in sales while pursuing a chemical engineering degree, said the conviction has cost him job opportunities.
“Since this became public, I have told every potential employer about my involvement up front, and I have been turned down because of it,” he wrote to the judge.
Bernard told Sabraw, “I took an unfair advantage that I wasn’t entitled to, and I regret that. I will do everything I can to be someone my family can be proud of again.”
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