The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed an emergency action in New York against Khaled Al Hashemi, an Abu Dhabi citizen, for allegedly engaging in insider trading in the shares of Nova Chemicals Corporation before the February 23, 2009 merger announcement with Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Company.
The SEC alleges that Hashemi reaped $458,760 in profits by unlawfully trading in advance of the merger announcement. The SEC also stated that it had obtained a temporary restraining order freezing Hashemi's assets as well as other emergency relief.
In the complaint posted on the SEC web site on Monday, the charge alleged that Hashemi purchased 120,000 Nova shares through his online brokerage account in the two weeks prior to the merger announcement.
The SEC stated: "These purchases began to accelerate as the merger date approached as he made 54 percent of his total purchases on the last trading day before the announcement. Hashemi funded these purchases
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