Disney pair charged with insider trading
A WALT Disney employee and her boyfriend have been charged with trying to sell insider information to over 30 hedge funds, including a tip Disney was in advanced talks to sell its struggling ABC television network – which Disney said was false.
Disney said it is fully cooperating with the investigation. “The reference in the complaint to conversations regarding the ABC Network were and are false,” the company said in a statement.
An assistant to the company’s head of corporate communications gave confidential information about Disney’s quarterly earnings to her boyfriend, who in turn tried to sell it to US and European hedge funds, according to criminal and civil insider trading charges filed yesterday.
Bonnie Hoxie and her friend, Yonni Sebbag – otherwise known as Jonathan Cyrus – were arrested by FBI agents in Los Angeles, law enforcement officials said.
In a sting operation, undercover agents contacted Sebbag, who in one email said he had learned that the company was in discussions to sell ABC — on which Wall Street had speculated but which the company has never confirmed.