SEC Freezes Accounts Behind Alleged Insider Trading In General Communication

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday it's received an emergency court order to freeze assets in two brokerage accounts used to reap more than $1 million in alleged insider trading profits in connection with last week's announcement that Liberty Interactive was buying General Communication . The traders, who are currently unknown, allegedly used foreign brokerage accounts in the United Kingdom and Lebanon to purchase call option contracts through U.S.-based brokerages and on U.S.-based exchanges in the days leading up to the April 4 public announcement of the acquisition, the SEC said. According to the SEC’s complaint, some of the risky options positions taken in these accounts represented virtually 100% of the market for those options.