U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 21993 / June 8, 2011
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Onele Trading & Finance Ltd., 10 Civ. 9159 (JFK) (S.D.N.Y.)
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS CORPORATION AGREES TO PAY $5.72 MILLION TO SETTLE INSIDER TRADING CHARGES
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that on June 8, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment against Onele Trading & Finance Ltd. ("Onele"), a British Virgin Islands corporation, in the Commission's pending injunctive action, SEC v. Onele Trading & Finance Ltd., 10 Civ. 9159 (JFK) (S.D.N.Y.). The Commission's action was filed on December 8, 2010 and was initially styled Securities and Exchange Commission v. One or More Unknown Purchasers of Securities of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC. The Commission's complaint alleged that certain unknown purchasers engaged in illegal insider trading in the American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs") of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC ("WBD"), a Russian corporation that manufactures and sells dairy and fruit juice products, ahead of a December 2, 2010, announcement that PepsiCo, Inc. intended to acquire a 66 percent interest in WBD. The day the Commission filed its action, the district court entered a temporary restraining order freezing the shares and proceeds related to the alleged insider trading. At a hearing held on December 16, 2010, the district court entered a preliminary injunction extending the relief provided in the temporary restraining order. On May 26, 2011, the Commission amended its complaint to name Onele as the sole defendant.
The Commission's amended complaint alleges that Onele violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder through its trading ahead of the acquisition announcement. The amended complaint alleges that Onele, through an account maintained at SG Private Banking (Suisse) SA in Geneva, Switzerland, placed orders to buy 400,000 WBD ADRs during the three days preceding the announcement. The day after the announcement, the closing price of WBD ADRs rose approximately 28 percent from the previous day's close.
Without admitting or denying the allegations of the amended complaint, Onele consented to entry of a final judgment enjoining it from violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder; ordering it to pay disgorgement in the amount of $2,864,638; and imposing a civil money penalty in the amount of $2,864,638 pursuant to Exchange Act Section 21A(a). The monetary sanctions will be paid out of the monies frozen pursuant to the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
The Commission's investigation is continuing.
See Litigation Release No. 21766 (Dec. 8, 2010).