S.E.C. Accuses a Vice President of MedImmune of Insider Trading
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
A vice president of MedImmune, Eric I. Tsao, was accused yesterday of insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which said he made about $150,000 on trades in shares of U.S. BioScience, Aviron and ImClone Systems.
Mr. Tsao, 42, made the trades from September 1999 to December 2001 when MedImmune, the maker of Synagis, a drug used to treat infant-respiratory infections, was negotiating to buy U.S. BioScience and Aviron and embark on a manufacturing agreement with ImClone, the S.E.C. said.
His lawyer, Stephen Crimmins, said, "Eric is innocent of these mistaken charges and looks forward to clearing his name at trial."
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Mr. Tsao made the trades over the Internet in an account nominally held by his parents in Taiwan that he controlled, the S.E.C. asserted.
The S.E.C. also accused Mr. Tsao of taking steps to distance himself from the account when he learned that the regulatory arm of NASD, formerly the National Association of Securities Dealers, was investigating trading in one of the three stocks.
Mr. Tsao also lied to the S.E.C. staff about his trading, the S.E.C. said.
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Greenbelt, Md., seeks Mr. Tsao's gains plus interest, a fine and a prohibition on his serving as an officer or director of any public company.
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