MANHATTAN (CN) - A 75-year-old CEO of two companies made $150,000 from illegal inside trading in his companies' stock, the SEC claims in court.
The SEC sued Phillip J. DeZwirek, of Toronto, in Federal Court.
It claims he made roughly $50,000 a pop by trading on inside information while he was chairman and CEO of CECO Environmental Corp. and of API Technologies. He owned more than 10 percent of each company's stock.
DeZwirek bought CECO stock days before the company released statements about winning new contracts, the SEC says. On the news, CECO share prices jumped by 10 percent and by 33 percent, and DeZwirek made $51,785 and $44,657 from his stock purchases, according to the SEC. Those trades were in 2008.
In 2010 he did it again, trading ahead on information about API, the SEC says. This time he made $54,836 when API shares rose by 30 percent upon the public announcement, according to the SEC lawsuit.
The SEC seeks disgorgement, penalties, an injunction, and wants DeZwirek barred from serving as an officer or director of a publicly traded company.
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