Ronald Yee, a former chief financial officer for ValueAct Capital Partners of San Francisco, has been accused by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission of leaking inside information concerning Acxiom Corp. of Little Rock.
In a civil suit filed Friday in U.S. District Court for Northern California, the SEC said Yee and six relatives and friends collectively reaped more than $8 million in illicit profits from unlawful trades in the securities of Acxiom and Tempur-pedic International Inc.
The SEC's press release on the civil suit is available here. The SEC's chart showing the relationships between the seven is available here.
Yee allegedly tipped off his brother-in-law, Chen Tang, that ValueAct was planning to buy Acxiom, and Tang and others bought Acxiom stock based on that insider information. Later Yee tipped Tang that the deal was in jeopardy, and Tang and the others sold Acxiom stock short. The two tips allegedly allowed Tang and his associates to reap more than $6 million in profits.
"There is no allegation that Acxiom or any current or former employees did anything improper, and the indictments have no implications for Acxiom's business or its people," company spokesman Scott Maple said. "Apart from one individual in the employ of a venture capital fund that made a failed attempt to buy Acxiom, the defendants had nothing to do with our company."
ArkansasBusiness.com will update this story.
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