Husbands Of The Year Didn't Realize Wives Were Serious When They Said 'Don't Trade On This Inside Information'

Ching Hwa Chen and Tyrone Hawk know what we're talking about.

Ching Hwa Chen, 61, of San Jose, California, overheard his wife, Informatica Corp. (INFA)’s senior tax director, discussing the company’s quarterly results in June 2012 and gleaned that they might miss its forecasts, the SEC said in a complaint filed today in federal court in San Jose, California. Chen bought options and sold the company’s shares short, making $138,000 when they dropped after the company didn’t make the forecast, the SEC said. His wife had told him not to trade in Informatic shares under any circumstances and Chen hid the trades from her, the SEC said. Chen, who didn’t admit or deny wrongdoing, agreed to pay $280,523 to settle the case, according to the SEC.

In a separate complaint filed in San Jose, the agency said Tyrone Hawk, 46, of Los Gatos, California, made $151,480 by selling shares of Acme Packet Inc. that he bought after overhearing his wife, an Oracle Corp. (ORCL) finance manager, in discussions regarding the software company’s planned acquisition of Acme in February 2013. Hawk didn’t heed his wife’s warning that there was a blackout in trading Oracle securities because it was in the process of an acquisition. Hawk, who also didn’t admit to or deny the allegations, agreed to pay about $305,614 to resolve the SEC lawsuit, according to court documents.

Two Husbands Accused of Trading on Wives Overheard Talk [Bloomberg]