Tipster Father Gets Probation In Insider-Trading Case

H. Clayton Peterson will do no jail time for passing confidential information to his hedge fund manager son.

A federal judge in New York yesterday sentenced Peterson to two years probation and three months house arrest. Peterson pleaded guilty in August to tipping his son, Drew, off to the impending acquisition of Mariner Energy, on whose board he served. Drew Peterson, who has also pleaded guilty but whose sentencing date has not been scheduled, then tipped off another hedge fund manager, believed to be Denver-based Big 5 Asset Management founder Bo Brownstein.

U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson said that, while he was "concerned that these cases will lead to misunderstanding on the part of the public as to why a sentence here of non-incarceration is justified," he said that Peterson's long business career and service in the Vietnam War weighed in the defendant's favor. But the judge did impose a $400,000 fine, which had not been sought by prosecutors.

"My life and reputation will never be the same," Peterson said at the hearing. "I will live with this stigma for the rest of my life."