Diller To Pay $480,000 Civil Fine

Media titan and Wall Street wheeler-dealer Barry Diller will pay $480,000 to settle civil charges that he violated premerger reporting and waiting requirements when he acquired voting securities of The Coca Cola Co. (NYSE:KO), the Department of Justice said Tuesday.

Diller, chairman of media conglomerate IAC/InterActivecorp (NASDAQ:IACI), was named in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. According to the suit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., at the request of the Federal Trade Commission, Diller violated the notification requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act of 1976.

Also filed Tuesday was the terms of the proposed settlement with Diller, which needs to be approved by a judge.

The Justice Department said Diller violated laws that impose notification and waiting period requirements on individuals and companies over a certain size before they complete acquisitions that result in holding stock or assets above a certain value.