A trader once disciplined by the Securities Exchange Commission for making illegal short sales bought a 33rd-floor condo at the pricey No. 9 Walton.
Jeffrey A. Wolfson and his wife, Linda, paid $8.2 million for the unit, making them the latest buyers in JDL Development’s luxury condo tower at 9 West Walton Street in the Gold Coast, according to Cook County property records.
Wolfson in 2012 settled a case with the SEC, after he and his brother were accused of making millions of dollars in illegal short sales while he was a trader on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange.
The SEC said Jeffrey and Robert Wolfson made illegal short sales from July 2006 to July 2007. Jeffrey Wolfson was working as a broker-dealer and later as the principal trader at a Chicago-based brokerage firm that went out of business, the SEC said.
Robert Wolfson, who lived in Massachusetts, was trading in an account at New York-based broker-dealer Golden Anchor Trading, which also was charged and agreed to the settlement, the SEC said.
Jeffrey Wolfson generated approximately $8.8 million in illicit trading profits, and Robert Wolfson and Golden Anchor made more than $700,000, the SEC said.
Jeffrey Wolfson was required to pay $13.4 million, which included a $2.5 million penalty and interest. Robert Wolfson and Golden Anchor were required to collectively pay $1.1 million.
Jeffrey Wolfson, who admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement with the SEC, also was suspended from trading for a year.
Documents for the No. 9 Walton purchase show he and Linda Wolfson live in another Gold Coast condo on East Delaware Street. The couple sold an 11,000-square-foot home in Glencoe for $7 million in 2014, Crain’s reported at the time.
At No. 9 Walton they will join a roster of well known Chicagoans who have bought pricey condos there. The building has dominated the list of most expensive residential sales over the past year.
Among the big-name buyers are Chicago Blackhawks star Jonathan Toews, Chicago Cub Jason Heyward and Ferrara Candy CEO Todd Siwak.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, Illinois’ richest man, shattered the record for most expensive home sale in the Chicago area when he bought the then-unfinished top four floors of the building for $59 million at the end of last year.