Second Party of SodaStream Insider Trading Investigation Revealed

Thirty-year-old student and former SodaStream employee Ayala Cohen allegedly used information she received from former CEO Daniel Birnbaum to make profits of around $55,000

Thirty-year-old student Ayala Cohen is the second party in the insider trading investigation surrounding Daniel Birnbaum, the former CEO of SodaStream International Ltd. Tel Aviv district court removed the gag order on her name Thursday.

 

A former SodaStream employee and long-term acquaintance of Birnbaum, Cohen is accused of making use of insider information on three separate occasions, one of them being the 2018, $3.2 billion acquisition by PepsiCo Inc., to make profits of almost NIS 200,000 (around $55,500) on the stock market. She is also suspected of deleting text messages and photos from her phone during the search conducted in her home last week before the device was confiscated.

 

Ayala Cohen. Photo: Orel Cohen

 

 

Birnbaum was released last Monday on bail of NIS 1.2 million (approximately $342,000) and was forbidden from leaving the country for 180 days. He is suspected of insider trading violations and fraud and breach of trust. He stepped down as CEO in August after 12 years.