Swiss trader agrees $2.8m settlement with US authorities over insider trading charges
A Swiss trader will pay the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) $2.8m (£1.79m) to settle insider trading charges.
Helmut Anscheringer was charged with trading on non-public information he acquired ahead of Apple's $355m acquisition of Florida biometrics company AuthenTec.
A SEC investigation found that the trader based in Basel learned from a relative of an AuthenTec executive that Apple was preparing a bid for the company, and bought a number of stock and call options in the following days.
After the takeover was made public, AutenTec's share price soared 60 per cent and Anscheringer found himself $1.8m better off.
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Glenn Gordon, associate director of the SEC's Miami Regional Office, commented:
Anscheringer attempted to profit by freely trading on inside information. Foreign traders in U.S. stocks are not exempt from SEC scrutiny as we traced the misconduct back to Anscheringer when investigating these significant purchases in a trading account belonging to an entity in the British Virgin Islands for which he was listed as the beneficiary.