Baseball Star Settles Insider-Trading Chages

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday announced that Hall of Fame first baseman Eddie Murray has settled insider trading charges stemming from allegations he profited from an illegal stock tip provided by his former Baltimore Orioles teammate Doug DeCinces.

DeCinces and three other business associates have already settled charges brought last year of trading on confidential information ahead of an acquisition of California-based medical parts company Advanced Medical Optics Inc.

DeCinces, a third baseman who replaced Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson in the Oriole's lineup, and his accomplices made more than $1.7 million in illegal profits, according to the SEC, and they agreed to pay more than $3.3 million to settle the charges.

On Friday Murray and a former executive at Advanced Medical Optics, James V. Mazzo, who was chairman and CEO of the company and a friend and neighbor of DeCinces, were also charged.

The SEC said in a statement that Mazzo was allegedly the source of the illegal tips.

“Mazzo had repeated personal contacts and communications with DeCinces, who promptly traded and tipped Murray, Parker and others that a deal involving Mazzo’s company was imminent,” said Daniel M. Hawke, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit and Director of the Philadelphia Regional Office, in a statement.

A third person, another friend of DeCinces, a Utah businessman named David L. Paker, was also charged.

According to the complaint, Murray made about $235,314 in illegal profits after Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT)  publicly announced its plan to purchase Advanced Medical Optics through a tender offer.

Murray has agreed to settle the SEC’s charges by paying a $358,151 fine. The cases against Parker and Mazzo are ongoing.