Federal prosecutors have broken up an insider trading ring that earned around $4.8 million in illegal trades based on non-public information -- $250,000 of that netted from trades based on tips related to Electronic Arts' bid to acquire Take-Two.
Take-Two works with public relations firm The Brunswick Group regarding its mergers and acquisitions, and the Dow Jones Newswire reports that a Brunswick employee's husband, a Barclays Wealth broker, reportedly
used information he learned from his wife to tip off his clients regarding investments before EA's bid for Take-Two became public. Devlin was a Lehman Bros. broker at the time of the violations.
The SEC determined that Brunswick employee Nina Devlin is an innocent party in the situation, but
will charge her husband, Matthew Devlin, along with nine other defendants, for trading on and tipping investors based on inside information.
Neither Electronic Arts, Take-Two or its PR firm is believed to have any culpability in the situation. The New York Times
reported on a statement from The Brunswick Group: "This is a violation of trust between husband and wife," the firm said of its employee.
"Our employee was the victim of a criminal act by her spouse which made detection extremely difficult despite our high standards of confidentiality."
