A former stockbroker made nearly $23,000 on a pending acquisition by a Silicon Valley company after using insider knowledge he learned from his girlfriend, an attorney involved in the deal, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Lee Edelman, 34, was indicted on securities fraud charges after his girlfriend, an associate at a large Manhattan law firm, told him in March 2004 that Applied Materials Inc. was in talks to acquire Metron Technology NV. Applied Materials, based in Santa Clara, Calif., builds semiconductor-making equipment, while Metron provides support services for the industry.
Metron's share price almost doubled on Aug. 16, 2004, when the deal was announced. Edelman, of New York, quickly sold his shares, making $22,786, according to the indictment in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, which filed civil insider trading charges against Edelman, said in a release that Edelman broke up with his girlfriend several weeks after he began buying Metron stock. The attorney was not identified in court papers and was not aware of Edelman's stock buys, investigators said.