SEC Sues Hedge Fund CFO and Venture Capital Fund CFO Alleging Insider Trading In Tempur-Pedic and Acxiom Stock

On October 30, 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commenced a civil enforcement action against a group of seven individuals who allegedly engaged in insider trading in the securities of Tempur-Pedic International, Inc. (Tempur) and Acxiom Corporation (Acxiom).  Defendant King Chuen Tang (Chen Tang) was Chief Financial Officer of an unnamed hedge fund.  He allegedly conveyed confidential information about Tempur to five co-defendants, and traded on that information for his own account, through funds that he controlled, and through accounts held in the names of friends and family members.  His brother-in-law, defendant Ronald Yee, was Chief Financial Officer of a venture capital fund.  He is said to have been the tipper who provided Chen Tang with non-public information about Acxiom.  The SEC is seeking a permanent injunction, disgorgement of profits and civil penalties against the seven defendants involved in the scheme.  It is also seeking disgorgement of profits and an accounting from the investment funds controlled by the defendants and from the friends and family members of the defendants in whose names the illicit trades were conducted.  We summarize the details of the scheme, as pleaded in the SEC’s complaint, and the SEC’s legal allegations.

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