One of the banks at the heart of the March 2023 financial crisis saw several insiders sell shares before the bank had a rush for withdrawals and was taken over by regulators. The CEO of this bank left his home state rather quickly.

What happened: Silicon Valley Bank, a unit of SVB Finance Group SIVB, was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation on Friday, March 10, 2023. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was announced as the bankruptcy trustee.

The US government announced a program to support banks and protect depositors. Under the backstop, bank shareholders and bondholders could see their holdings surge to $0.

One of those affected by the bailout is the former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank Gregory Becker. The former CEO lost his job at the bank and could lose the value of his shares he owned in the company.

Becker has been CEO of Silicon Valley Bank since 2011.

gasoline ga had reported this before Before the bank collapsed, Becker sold 12,451 shares purchased through options. Becker previously paid $105.18 for the shares Do you sell in a range of $285.79 to $288.55 on February 27th.

Becker realized a net gain of $2,269,056 from the sale of $3,578,652 in shares. Following the transaction, Becker owned 92,552 shares of SVB Financial Group in a revocable trust and 6,315 in a 401(k)/ESOP.

Executives are allowed to exercise options and sell shares as they see fit, but the timing of the sale has caught public attention. Some inside trades may be pre-planned and part of specific plans to sell stocks at specific intervals.

Executives’ insider selling is the subject of multiple investigations, and it could put Becker in the spotlight if he knew the bank was struggling with funding prior to the bank run and his stock sale, or how underserved it was with its bond holdings.

Becker and others are also being sued by shareholders for hiding risks from the public.

Unemployed and potential target of a…