Former corporate executive admits guilt in sprawling multimillion-dollar insider trading scheme tied to company earnings

New York – Federal prosecutors in New York have secured a guilty plea from a former senior corporate executive accused of exploiting confidential company information to reap millions of dollars in illegal trading profits. The case centers on Paul Jorgensen, a former top executive at Doximity, who admitted to carrying out a multiyear insider trading scheme tied to the company’s quarterly earnings announcements.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office. According to prosecutors, Jorgensen used sensitive, non-public financial information to trade shares and options in advance of earnings calls, avoiding losses and securing massive profits while violating company policies and federal securities laws.

“Paul Jorgensen repeatedly used Doximity’s confidential information to trade in advance of the company’s quarterly earnings calls, earning himself more than $2.5 million in illegal profits,” Clayton said. “Corporate executives should be working for the benefit of the companies and shareholders they serve, not scheming to line their own pockets by trading on inside information. Together with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to protect our financial markets and prosecute those who misuse non-public information.”

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Jorgensen entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla. He admitted to two counts of securities fraud, each carrying a potential maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. While the statutory penalties are severe, the final sentence will be determined by the court at a later date. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 21, 2026.

Doximity, the company at the center of the case, is a professional networking platform designed for medical professionals. The San Francisco-based firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “DOCS.” Jorgensen joined Doximity in 2017 and steadily rose through the company’s ranks, becoming Chief Revenue Officer in 2022. In that role, he was entrusted with detailed knowledge of the company’s financial performance, projections, and internal discussions ahead of public disclosures.

As a senior executive, Jorgensen was subject to strict internal controls. Doximity barred employees from trading company stock in the lead-up to earnings calls, prohibited options trading, and required that employee-owned shares be held in brokerage accounts monitored by the company. Prosecutors say Jorgensen deliberately bypassed these safeguards by using an unauthorized personal brokerage account.

The first set of illegal trades occurred in the summer of 2022. At that time, Jorgensen learned that Doximity’s “upsells,” additional services sold to existing clients, had declined over the prior quarter. On July 28, 2022, he attended a board meeting where executives discussed the disappointing results ahead of an upcoming earnings call.

After that meeting, Jorgensen sent a text message to a close family member acknowledging that he possessed inside information. He wrote that he was “[n]ot selling [his] DOCS shares” because he had “non-public confidential info and it’s just not right to sell.” Despite this acknowledgment, prosecutors say his stance quickly changed.

Just two days later, after learning that he would be reassigned from his executive role to a sales position, Jorgensen texted the same family member again. This time, he said he “decided to sell [his] DOCS shares” because he needed to “protect us first and foremost.” The following day, he sold more than 61,000 shares of Doximity stock that he secretly held outside of company oversight.

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When Doximity publicly released its earnings on August 4, 2022, the company disclosed weaker-than-expected upsell performance and reduced its annual guidance by six percent. The stock price dropped by roughly seven percent. Because of his early sale, prosecutors say Jorgensen avoided losses exceeding $300,000.

The misconduct did not stop there. In 2023, authorities say Jorgensen again used inside information to place illegal trades, even as his position within the company was becoming increasingly unstable. In July of that year, he learned that upsell performance continued to decline and that Doximity was planning layoffs that would be announced during the upcoming earnings call.

On July 13, 2023, Jorgensen was informed that he would be terminated as part of the broader workforce reduction. With that knowledge, prosecutors say he moved quickly to trade Doximity stock and options ahead of the public announcement. He sold 15,000 shares, generating $114,000 in illicit profits, and sold 1,300 call options, netting an additional $200,000. He also purchased thousands of put options, betting that the stock price would fall sharply.

Those bets paid off. During the August 8, 2023 earnings call, Doximity announced both the layoffs and further declines in upsells, lowering its annual guidance by as much as nine percent. The company’s stock price plunged approximately 23 percent. After the drop, Jorgensen closed out his put options and earned nearly $2 million. He was officially terminated from Doximity later that month.

“Paul Jorgensen repeatedly leveraged nonpublic information to conduct illegal trades from an unauthorized personal account, garnering millions of dollars in illicit proceeds,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia. “The defendant’s actions greatly exploited his position of trust for his own personal gain, even as he learned he was likely to be terminated from the company. May today’s plea emphasize the FBI’s commitment to protect companies from internal executives who prioritize personal wealth over their duty to company shareholders.”

Jorgensen, 53, of Charlotte, North Carolina, now faces significant legal consequences. While the maximum sentence is set by Congress, Judge Failla will determine the actual punishment after reviewing sentencing guidelines and arguments from both sides.

Clayton credited the FBI for its investigative work and also thanked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its assistance. The prosecution is being handled by the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force within the U.S. Attorney’s Office, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Rothman leading the case.

The guilty plea closes a chapter in a case that federal officials say underscores the ongoing effort to protect market integrity and hold corporate insiders accountable when they misuse privileged information for personal gain.