SEC charges former Citi banker with insider trading
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. securities regulator charged a former Citigroup investment banker for allegedly tipping his brother about upcoming merger deals in an insider trading scheme that involved six other friends and family members, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday.
The SEC alleges that Maher Kara, a former director in Citigroup Global Markets' investment banking division in New York, repeatedly told his brother Michael Kara about upcoming deals in the healthcare industry from at least April 2004 through April 2007.
Michael Kara bought stock and options in companies that were the subject of Citigroup deals and passed tips to his friends and family members, who also traded the securities illegally, the SEC alleged.
The insider trading network, which spanned from New York to California and the Midwest, reaped more than $6 million in illicit profits, the SEC said. According to the complaint, the group made the most trading in stock and options of California-based medical testing company Biosite Inc, less than three days before a March 25, 2007 announcement that it would be acquired.
In total, Michael Kara made more than $1.5 million from the scheme and those he tipped made more than $4.5 million, the SEC said.
Maher Kara left Citigroup in April 2007 and joined another investment bank, the SEC said.
Two of Michael Kara's tippees, Nasser Mardini and Joseph Azar, have agreed to settle the SEC's charges without admitting or denying the allegations. Mardini has agreed to repay illegal profits, and Azar has agreed to repay illegal profits and pay a penalty. The SEC is seeking the repayment of ill-gotten profits and financial penalties from the others.
SEC v Maher F. Kara, Michael F. Kara, Emile Y. Jilwan, Zahi T. Haddad, Bassam Y. Salman, and Karim I. Bayyouk, U.S. District Court Northern District of California, No. CV-09-1880-PJH.
SEC v Joseph Azar, U.S. District Court Northern District of California, No. CV-09-1881-MHP.
SEC v Nasser Mardini, U.S. District Court Northern District of California, No. CV-09-1882-SI.
(Reporting by Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Richard Chang)
