US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission moved on Wednesday to freeze the brokerage accounts of unknown traders linked to suspected insider trading in the $3.3bn takeover of Fortress Investment Group (NYSE:FIG), the US-listed private equity firm, by Japan’s Softbank (OTCMKTS:SFTBF).
Read: Fortress Investment agrees to US$3.3bn Softbank bid
The US federal court order affects accounts at Singapore-based Maybank Securities and a London-based futures trading house, R J O’Brien, which the US regulator alleges contains $3.6mln in profits made “on their timely purchase and sale of Fortress securities,” according to a report by the Financial Times newspaper.
The SEC said all the trades through Maybank were made within a 24-hour period either side of the deal being announced after the market closed on 14 February this year.
The SEC filing said the suspicious trading in accounts at R J O’Brien took place between 10 and 14 February.