Chinese Husband-Wife Duo and Affiliates Agree To Pay $3.3 Million To Settle Charges in Insider Trading Case

The SEC announced that a Chinese businessman and his wife, whose trading accounts were frozen last year as part of an insider trading case, have agreed to settle charges.According to the SEC, the pair loaded up on the securities of Nexen Inc. while in possession of nonpublic information about an impending announcement that the company was being acquired by China-based CNOOC Ltd.

The SEC obtained an emergency court order in July 2012 to freeze multiple Hong Kong and Singapore-based trading accounts just days after the Nexen acquisition was announced and suspicious trading in Nexen stock was detected. The settlement, which is subject to court approval, requires the traders to pay more than $3.3 million combined.

Click here to view SEC Press Release (links externally to SEC website).See also: SEC Complaint filed July 27, 2012.