SEC sues Gilat exec, alleges insider trading

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday filed an insider trading lawsuit against a Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd executive it said used nonpublic information to profit from buying shares of a company that was looking to be acquired.

The SEC accused Joshua Levinberg, an executive vice president of corporate development and business strategy, of learning in late 2008 that Israel-based Scopus Video Networks Ltd was looking to be acquired by Gilat or another company.

The SEC said Levinberg bought 102,172 Scopus shares between October and December 2008 at an average price of $3.56 per share.

It said that six days after his final purchase of 71,000 shares, equal to 88 percent of all volume in Scopus stock that day, Scopus agreed to be acquired by Harmonic Inc for $5.62 per share, a 46 percent premium. The SEC said Levinberg's illegal profit from the stock was about $188,000.

A spokesman for Gilat did not immediately return a request for comment. The company has offices in Petah Tikva, Israel.

The SEC wants 55-year-old Levinberg to give up illegal profits, pay a civil fine, and agree to other remedies.

The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court.

The case is SEC v. Levinberg, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 10-00777.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel)