At about 4:22 p.m. Eastern time on August 4, 2025, after the market had closed, a SERB Pharmaceuticals employee told his spouse that the company had finalized plans to acquire Y-mAbs Therapeutics. The public announcement was scheduled for the next day.

By about 5:20 p.m., the information had reached Denha. The SEC says he was told not only that the deal was coming, but also where the information originated: a law partner whose spouse worked for the acquiring company. Denha bought Y-mAbs stock during that call.

The following day, SERB announced a $412 million all-cash tender offer. Y-mAbs shares closed $4.33 higher, a gain of approximately 103.34%. Denha sold all of his shares and recorded $25,604.65 in profit.

How confidential deal news reached a brokerage account

The information did not move directly from SERB to Denha. The SEC traced a chain involving a company employee, his spouse, her law partner, Denha and a second cousin who traded after Denha’s advice.

The order says the SERB employee disclosed the information to his spouse while discussing his work and personal circumstances. She then told Ayar while discussing her personal life and expressing hope that work would calm down for her husband.

Approximately one hour after the employee first spoke to his spouse, Ayar called Denha. According to the SEC, Ayar told Denha that Y-mAbs was about to be acquired, advised him to buy its stock and explained that the information came through a law partner whose spouse worked for the buyer.

Minutes after his own purchase, the SEC says, Denha advised another cousin to buy Y-mAbs. That cousin was a vice president at the mortgage lending business Denha founded and led. The order does not identify the mortgage company as a participant in the trading.

The deal was far beyond an early conversation

SERB’s interest in Y-mAbs had developed over several months. It began with a potential acquisition of one immunotherapy product, then expanded into consideration of buying all outstanding Y-mAbs shares. Both companies treated information about the potential transaction as confidential, according to the order.

1. Early 2025

   SERB submitted a preliminary indication of interest in acquiring a Y-mAbs immunotherapy product.

2. February 4, 2025

   SERB and Y-mAbs entered a confidentiality agreement covering material nonpublic information shared for a potential transaction.

3. By April 2025

   SERB shifted toward a possible acquisition of all outstanding Y-mAbs shares and retained legal and financial advisers.

4. April 23, 2025

   The SERB employee identified in the order became aware of the proposed acquisition through his job duties.

5. August 3, 2025

   Financial representatives held final discussions, and SERB delivered a revised nonbinding offer containing what it called its best and final price.

6. August 4, 2025

   After the market closed, the information passed from the employee to his spouse, then to Ayar and Denha. Denha and his cousin bought shares.

7. August 5, 2025

   SERB announced the $412 million tender offer at $8.60 per share. Denha and his cousin sold their holdings.

8. September 16, 2025

   A SERB subsidiary completed its merger with Y-mAbs.

9. September 25, 2026

   The SEC entered its settled cease-and-desist order against Denha.

By the time of Denha’s purchase, the SEC found that SERB had taken substantial steps toward commencing the tender offer. That point matters because the planned transaction was not merely a vague possibility. Representatives had conducted final discussions, and SERB had submitted a revised proposal for all outstanding shares.

The market learned the price after the trades

The announced offer valued Y-mAbs at $412 million, or $8.60 per share. Y-mAbs closed at $8.52 on August 5, compared with $4.19 the previous day. Denha and his cousin sold after the announcement.

The order does not identify specific investors who lost money because of these trades, and it does not quantify broader investor harm. What it documents is an information imbalance: Denha traded with acquisition details that were not yet available to the public, then exited after the announcement sharply changed the market price.

The public received the acquisition terms on August 5. The SEC says Denha had already bought 6,200 shares the evening before.

Y-mAbs and SERB are not respondents in this proceeding. The supplied order does not include statements from either company about Denha’s trading, nor does it attribute the trading to either company’s direction.

What the SEC ordered Denha to pay

The Commission found that Denha violated Sections 10(b) and 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5 and 14e-3(a). It ordered him to cease and desist from committing or causing those violations and any future violations.

Total payment ordered: $52,916.46. The order directs the money to the SEC for transfer to the U.S. Treasury’s general fund, subject to the cited securities-law provision.

Disgorgement is the repayment of gains tied to the violation. Here, the disgorgement amount exactly matches the profit the SEC attributed to Denha. The separate civil penalty and prejudgment interest bring the total to more than twice his trading profit.

This was a civil administrative settlement, not a criminal conviction. Denha did not admit the general findings when consenting to the order. The document nevertheless contains formal SEC findings made on the basis of his settlement offer.

What this order does not establish

The order’s most consequential evidence is its compressed chronology. Confidential acquisition news left a company employee after the market closed, moved through family and professional relationships, and reached a purchase order in less than an hour. Minutes later, it generated another trade.

By the next closing bell, the public announcement had more than doubled Y-mAbs’s share price. Denha’s settlement returned the profit attributed to him and added interest and a penalty. The order leaves the rest of the tip chain outside its binding reach.