A former IT employee of an unnamed multinational bank is accused by federal authorities of running a $5 million insider trading scheme with six other defendants, according to parallel suits filed in Manhattan federal court Wednesday.

Daniel Rivas and his co-defendants are being charged by both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York with using information on upcoming mergers and acquisitions purloined from Rivas' employer.

According to prosecutors, Rivas used his work computer to gain access to the information. Rivas allegedly passed the information along to his girlfriend's father, who passed them along to a friend who worked as a financial adviser at a brokerage firm. Both of the tippees are co-defendants with Rivas.