Ali El Siblani aka Al Siblani, a former senior executive and director of Desktop Metal, Inc., a then-publicly traded 3D printing company, was entrusted by his company with highly sensitive information about a corporate acquisition that would move markets. Between at least June and August 2021, Desktop Metal was negotiating to acquire The ExOne Company, a competitor in the 3D printing space, at a significant premium to ExOne’s market price. As a director, El Siblani had access to the details of that proposed acquisition, including the size of the premium Desktop Metal planned to pay ExOne shareholders, information that Desktop Metal’s internal policies required him to keep confidential. According to the SEC, rather than keeping that material nonpublic information to himself, El Siblani tipped three of his close friends, all from Michigan: Jamal “Jimmy” Chammout, Ali Jawad, and Rabih Rakha. On July 17, 2026, the SEC charged all four in the Eastern District of Michigan, alleging insider trading ahead of the August 11, 2021 announcement of the ExOne acquisition.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that shortly after communicating with El Siblani, each of the three tippees simultaneously began building substantial positions in ExOne securities and kept buying right up until the announcement. After the acquisition was made public and ExOne’s stock rose to reflect the premium, the tippees quickly sold their positions and realized illicit profits: $218,036 for Chammout, $218,082 for Jawad, and $61,006 for Rakha, totaling approximately $497,000. El Siblani, Jawad, and Rakha agreed to settle. El Siblani, without admitting the allegations, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $497,124 and to a four-year officer and director bar. Jawad agreed to pay disgorgement of $218,082, prejudgment interest of $72,364, and a civil penalty of $218,082. Rakha agreed to pay disgorgement of $61,006, prejudgment interest of $20,243, and a civil penalty of $61,006.
A Director’s Fiduciary Duty, Breached the Moment He Picked Up the Phone
The legal foundation of the case rests on El Siblani’s position and the duty that came with it. As a senior executive and director of Desktop Metal, he owed a fiduciary duty to the company and its shareholders to protect confidential information entrusted to him. Desktop Metal’s internal policies explicitly required directors to keep material nonpublic information confidential. The acquisition details El Siblani held, particularly the premium Desktop Metal intended to pay, were precisely the kind of information that would allow someone to profit by buying ExOne stock before the announcement and selling after the price rose. When El Siblani communicated that information to his three friends, according to the complaint, he breached his fiduciary duty, converting confidential corporate information into a personal favor for his social circle. The tippees’ trading pattern, described in the complaint as beginning simultaneously and shortly after they communicated with El Siblani, is the evidentiary link the SEC uses to connect the tips to the trades.
The trading behavior itself reinforced the inference of inside knowledge. Each of the three friends started accumulating ExOne positions at around the same time, after contact with El Siblani, and continued buying up to the moment of the public announcement, then sold quickly once the price jumped. This is the classic profile of insider trading on a specific event: concentrated buying in advance of a known catalyst, followed by immediate liquidation once the catalyst becomes public and the price moves. The near-identical profits of Chammout and Jawad, both just over $218,000, suggest coordinated position sizing, while Rakha’s smaller $61,006 reflected a smaller position in the same trade.
Chammout Did Not Settle, El Siblani Pays a Penalty Matching the Total Profits
The settlement structure reveals how the SEC allocated responsibility. El Siblani, as the tipper who breached the fiduciary duty, agreed to a civil penalty of $497,124, an amount that closely matches the combined $497,124 in profits generated by all three tippees. This reflects the principle that a tipper can be held liable for the full extent of the trading profits their tips generated, even though the tipper may not have personally traded. El Siblani also accepted a four-year officer and director bar, removing him from public company leadership. Jawad and Rakha settled by disgorging their individual profits, paying prejudgment interest, and paying civil penalties equal to their profits. Jamal Chammout, whose $218,036 in profits made him one of the two largest individual beneficiaries, did not settle at the time of the announcement, meaning the SEC’s litigation continues against him. The assistance of FINRA was noted by the SEC in developing the case.
Conclusion
Ali El Siblani sat on the board of Desktop Metal and held the confidential details of its acquisition of ExOne, including the premium that would send ExOne’s stock higher the moment it was announced. Instead of protecting that information, he handed it to three friends who bought ExOne stock up to the announcement and sold immediately after for a combined $497,000. He settled by paying a penalty matching every dollar of those profits and accepting a four-year bar. Two of the friends settled by giving back what they made plus penalties. The third, Chammout, did not settle. The information El Siblani was trusted to protect became a $497,000 payday for his social circle.
