DeCinces indicted for insider trading

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LOS ANGELES, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- A federal grand jury indicted former Baltimore Orioles third baseman Doug DeCinces on securities fraud charges for allegedly profiting from inside information.

DeCinces -- who played in Baltimore for nine seasons before being traded to the California Angeles -- is currently chief of an Irvine, Calif., real estate development firm. He was indicted with three business colleagues for allegedly benefiting financially in 2008 from trading stock in Advanced Medical Optics Inc., based on insider knowledge it was about to be acquired by Abbott Laboratories, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles said.

Prosecutors said DeCinces, 62, obtained $1.3 million in illegal profits.

The criminal indictment Wednesday is the latest incident related to the acquisition, which resulted in DeCinces' total payments of $2.5 million, in 2010 and 2011, to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a civil case in which he did not admit to wrongdoing, The Baltimore Sun reported Thursday.

"To put it mildly, we do not agree with the decision to bring a criminal case against Doug DeCinces," the former player's attorney, Gordon A. Greenberg said in a statement.

Hall of Fame member and former Oriole Eddie Murray also made payments in the civil case but was not named in Wednesday's indictment, the newspaper said.