A Los Angeles PR pro Renee White Fraser has settled a Securities and Exchange Commission charge of insider trading, agreeing to pay more than $91K after she allegedly bought shares of a bank that contacted her in 2009 for PR support during its acquisition of another financial institution.
Fraser |
The SEC said Fraser, who runs L.A. ad and PR agency Fraser Communications, bought 10K shares of stock in East West Bancorp and sold them after the shares jumped 55 percent on the announcement of EWB’s acquisition of United Commercial Bank.
“I made a mistake, and I deeply regret it,” Fraser said in a statement.
Fraser’s settlement deal does not admit or deny the allegations. The SEC notes the payment is more than double the $43,868 in illegal profits she made.
“Consultants in public relations or any career field cannot exploit their client relationships for an illegal payday in the stock market,” said SEC Los Angeles regional director Michele Layne.
The complaint said EWB contacted and engaged Fraser’s firm in October 2009, sharing nonpublic information about its deal for UCB to allow the firm to prepare marketing and PR materials.
Fraser, who accepted a permanent bar from serving as an officer or director of a public company, bought the shares a day after the bank formally hired her PR firm.
The SEC last month charged former Carter's VP of investor relations Eric Martin with insider trading. Last year, a staffer for IR firm Market Street Partners was charged in the large Galleon hedge fund insider trading case.