Tuesday, 15 May 2007

Ex-Oracle Staffer Settles insider trading case

Christopher Balkenhol was accused of using information gained from his wife who was the lead executive assistant to Oracle chief Lawrence Ellison.

A former Oracle Corp. vice president has agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission USD198, 000 to settle the case against him that alleged that he used his inside information from his wife to buy stocks that Oracle planned to buy from the markets.

Christopher Balkenhol was accused of using information gained from his wife who was the lead executive assistant to Oracle chief Lawrence "Larry" Ellison.

Balkenhol neither accepted guilt nor tried to defend himself but, however, he agreed to pay the money along with a fine of USD100, 000.

According to the SEC officials, the couple talked every day about their jobs. Christopher Balkenhol had a previous record of trading in stocks. SEC officials added that he started buying shares of Siebel Systems, Retek, both of which were acquired by Oracle and a unnamed third company in which Oracle was interested but did not buy.

SEC officials said Christopher bought USD270, 000 of Siebel stock soon after he learnt from his wife. He bought nearly USD 450,000 worth of Siebel stock before the USD 5.85 billion deal was closed in September 2005.