The Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors have charged Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates director Michael Lucarelli with insider trading, claiming the veteran IR exec accessed clients' draft press releases and bought and sold shares on the info.

lucarelliLucarelli, who was arrested this morning, faces 13 counts of criminal charges related to the trading, which reaped nearly $1M in illicit gains per the SEC and $500K according to the US attorney's probe. Both investigations are ongoing.

"As alleged, and despite the well-known parade of convicted insider trading perpetrators over the past several years, Michael Lucarelli was not deterred and violated both his company’s policies and his responsibility to its clients by trading on material nonpublic information for his personal financial gain," said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.

Bharara's office said Lucarelli, in violation of LH&A policy prohibiting staffers from trading in client securities, engaged in the scheme from at least August 2013 through August 2014. Lucarelli, who did not list his employer with his brokers, bought shares of companies that L/H&A was advising in advance of earnings or other significant news and immediate dumped to the stock after the announcements "in order to reap instant profits."

"Employees of investor relations firms have access to sensitive information about their clients, and exploiting that information for personal gain is not an option," SEC New York regional director Andrew Calamari said.

LH&A partner Keith Lippert called the situation "devastating," telling the Wall Street Journal that the firm has policies in place to avoid such dealings and that it is cooperating fully with authorities.

Lucarelli has been with the firm for two years, according to his LinkedIn profile, which also lists posts at Allen & Caron and Rubenstein Associates.