The US Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed to lessen the extent of its assets freeze against two Gulf-based banks named in an insider trading case, United Arab Emirates daily The National reported. Bahrain-based United Gulf Bank and Kuwait-based Kipco Asset Management Company had their US assets frozen following charges that Kuwait businessman Hazzem Al Braikan used the accounts as part of a share manipulation scheme. Following the charges by the SEC, Al Braikan was found dead in an apparent sucide sending shockwaves throughout the Gulf's financial community.
According to the newspaper, on August 5 a New York Southern District Court Judge suspended hearings partly due to Al Braikan's death and because the SEC reached agreements with the defendants. SEC lawyers subsequently stated that they had come to agreement with UGB and Kipco to limit the scope of the asset freeze.
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