The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it has frozen the assets of Nicolas Patrick Benoit Condroyer and Gilles Robert Roger. The two French citizens, who reside in Belgium, have been charged with insider trading after allegedly making $4.2 million by using insider knowledge of Sanofi-Aventis agreement to purchase Chattem, Inc. of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The SEC charges allege that Condroyer and Roger “purchased hundreds of ‘out-of-the-money’ call option contracts for stock in Chattem, Inc…while in possession of material, nonpublic information regarding the impending acquisition of Chattem by Sanofi-Aventis, one of the world's largest health care products companies.”
According to the SEC's complaint in the case, when the $1.9 billion acquisition was announced publicly on December 21, Condroyer and Roger immediately sold all of their options for illicit profits of approximately $4.2 million. The SEC filed insider trading charges against them the very next day.
Sanofi-Aventis announced the deal on December 21, after which the two defendants immediately sold all of their interests in Chattem. Prior to the announcement, they purchased options contracts in Chattem. According to complaint, “Condroyer was in possession of material, nonpublic information regarding the Chattem acquisition by Sanofi while he purchased, from December 7 to 18, more than 1,900 option contracts for Chattem stock that were set to expire on January 15, within weeks of the purchase date. The SEC similarly alleges that on December 17 and 18, Roger purchased 940 contracts for Chattem in an account he opened at the beginning of that week while in possession of material, nonpublic information regarding the acquisition. These contracts also were set to expire on January 15. The SEC further alleges that there have been no transactions in either Condroyer's or Roger's account other than the purchase and sale of Chattem call options.” |
