Two Previously Unknown Insider Traders in Heinz Ordered to Pay Nearly $5 Million
The Securities and Exchange Commission obtained court approval of a settlement that requires two brothers in Brazil to pay nearly $5 million to resolve charges that they were behind suspicious trading in call options of H.J. Heinz Company ("Heinz") the day before the company publicly announced its acquisition.
Final judgments entered on April 2, 2014 by the Honorable Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York permanently enjoin Rodrigo Terpins and Michel Terpins from future violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The judgments also order them to disgorge, jointly and severally with Alpine Swift Ltd., a Cayman Islands entity, $1,809,857 in illegal profits made from their Heinz trading, and for each of the Terpins brothers to pay $1.5 million in civil penalties.
The SEC filed an emergency enforcement action against previously unknown traders in Heinz securities in February 2013 to freeze assets of a Swiss-based trading account used to reap $1,809,857 from trading in advance of the Heinz announcement. The SEC filed an amended complaint in October 2013 alleging that the Terpins brothers were behind that trading, which occurred through an account that belonged to Alpine Swift.
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