The SEC charged the former CEO of a payment systems company and his girlfriend with insider trading ahead of a merger announcement.
In a Complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, the SEC alleged that Heartland Payment Systems ("Heartland") CEO Robert Carr tipped his girlfriend to Heartland's impending merger with a larger Georgia-based company. Mr. Carr allegedly shared material nonpublic information in connection with negotiations surrounding the merger. According to the Complaint, Mr. Carr provided his girlfriend with $1 million to open a brokerage account, which she then used to purchase $900,000 in Heartland stock. Following the announcement of the merger, she sold her shares for a profit of over $250,000.
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