Alleged California Insider Trading Ring Charged By SEC

Four people in an alleged California-based insider trading ring are being charged with generating $750,000 in illegal profits in advance of corporate news announcements. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that John Gray, a former Barclays Capital analyst, and Christian Keller, who worked in finance at Applied Materials Inc. and Rovi Corporation, traded on confidential information on Applied Materials' merger and ahead of negative news about Rovi. The two tried to conceal the trades by putting them in a brokerage account in the name of another friend of Gray. They also tipped off a fourth friend. The four agreed to settle the case without admitting or denying allegations and pay a combined total of more than $1.6 million.