WASHINGTON — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday it was moving to dismiss its civil insider trading lawsuit against Terren Peizer, a former healthcare executive who was convicted of insider trading and later received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.
Peizer, 65, founded and served as chief executive of healthcare company Ontrak. The Justice Department charged him with insider trading in 2023, while the SEC pursued a parallel civil case.
Authorities accused Peizer of selling more than $20 million of Ontrak shares between May and August 2021 while he possessed material nonpublic information about problems involving the company's largest customer.
The criminal case was notable because it centered on Peizer's use of a pre-arranged stock trading program, known as a Rule 10b5-1 plan, which can allow executives to sell shares according to predetermined instructions. Prosecutors said Peizer used the arrangement while possessing inside information.
A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Peizer in 2024 on two counts of insider trading and one count of securities fraud. He was sentenced in June 2025 to 42 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5.25 million fine and forfeit more than $12.7 million in proceeds, according to Justice Department records.
Trump granted Peizer a full and unconditional pardon on Jan. 16, 2026, excepting fines or restitution already paid, according to the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney. The pardon applied to the federal criminal case.
The SEC's decision concerns its separate civil enforcement action. The agency said Friday that it was moving to dismiss that lawsuit following the pardon.
The development marks the latest instance in which the SEC has ended a civil enforcement proceeding involving a defendant who received presidential clemency during Trump's second term. The agency had also pursued civil claims against individuals whose criminal sentences were commuted or who received other forms of clemency.
Peizer was previously a protege of financier Michael Milken, who pleaded guilty to securities fraud in the 1980s and was pardoned by Trump during his first presidential term in 2020.
The SEC's proposed dismissal does not alter the criminal conviction itself, which was covered by Trump's pardon. The Justice Department lists Peizer's criminal case as involving securities fraud and two insider-trading counts and records the January pardon.
The SEC's latest action remains a civil court proceeding, with dismissal requiring the appropriate judicial action.
