SEC Says Doc Made $183K On Inside Trades

MANHATTAN (CN) - The CEO of a medical instruments company tipped a doctor to inside information about Animas Corp.'s pending merger with Johnson & Johnson, and the doctor made $183,000 from it, the SEC claims in Federal Court.

The SEC claims that Joseph Fontanetta, head of the medical instruments company, tipped off retired podiatrist Burr McKenna, of Monarch Beach, Calif., before the Dec. 16, 2005 public announcement of the merger.

The SEC claims that Fontanetta, of Paramus, N.J., got the inside information from board member of his company who was the husband of an Animas executive. It claims that McKenna began buying Animas stock 6 minutes after Fontanetta tipped him to the merger in a phone call.

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