SEC Charges Four in Silicon Valley Insider Trading Ring

By Angela Chen 

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged four people, including a former analyst at Barclays Capital, with participating in insider trading that generated nearly $750,000 in illegal profits.

The accused are John Gray, the Barclays analyst; Christian Keller; Kyle Martin; and Aaron Shepard. They weren't immediately available for comment.

According to the SEC, Mr. Keller, who once worked at Silicon Valley's Applied Materials Inc., tipped off Mr. Gray and Mr. Shephard about his company's acquisitions of Semitool Inc. and Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates in 2009 and 2011, respectively. Mr. Gray and Mr. Keller placed these trades in a brokerage account held by Mr. Martin.

After Mr. Keller joined Rovi Corp. as a vice president of finance, the four were able to trade Rovi securities ahead of negative results from the company's 2012 first and second quarter results, the SEC said.

"Gray and Keller tried to evade detection by trading in another person's name, using prepaid disposable phones, and making structured cash withdrawals to share profits," said Jina L. Choi, director of the SEC's San Francisco office.

The four will settle the charge by paying more than $1.6 million total.

Write to Angela Chen at [e-mail]

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