MIAMI, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged five Florida residents with insider trading that allegedly turned a $1 million profit, court papers show.
The SEC charged former chief financial officer of World Fuel Services Robert Tocci and two current company executives, Richard White and Steven Scoppetuolo, with trading stock just prior to a World Fuel Service earnings announcement in 2007, The Miami Herald reported Wednesday.
Stockbroker Sarang Ahuja and American Airlines pilot Eric Gordon were also charged with violating trading laws. Gordon and White are members of the same country club, court papers say.
The charged allege Scoppetuolo informed his "best friend" Tocci the firm would announce disappointing financial reports. Using a short-sell strategy, White, Scoppetuolo and Tocci unloaded shares before the reports were made public and bought them back at a profit when prices dropped, the SEC said.
Instead of losing $34,000, Tocci made a profit of $262,000, court paper say.
The World Fuel attorney Alexander Lake said the company is cooperating with the SEC, while the attorneys for all five defendants denied the charges.
"There was no tip, there was no material information -- the bad news in this case was widely known and public for months,'' Ahuja attorney Chris Bruno said.
