the plot thickens on Reebok insider trading case
forbes.com
LONDON - An innocent retired seamstress who's the victim of stolen identity? Or a millionaire who got rich on the back of inside trading in sportswear giant Reebok? Croatian media suggested today that 63-year-old Sonja Anticevic, who does stints as a cleaning lady to supplement her meager pension, could be the former.
For her part, Anticevic claims she has never bought any stock in Paul B. Fireman's company and has no idea about the workings of the U.S. stock exchange. The simply dressed sexagenarian told The Associated Press outside her apartment to "leave me alone, please. I'm in shock".
But a Croatian media report claimed today that Anticevic's 25-year-old nephew is a broker in New York, and that Anticevic keeps contact with him. On Thursday, Adidas announced a deal to buy Reebok International (nyse: RBK - news - people )for $3.8 billion, creating a well-heeled rival to Nike (nyse: NKE - news - people ). On Friday the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission froze Anticevic's accounts, and claimed she netted $2 million through trading Reebok stock.
The timing of Anticevic's alleged trading of the stock was clearly a little too neat for the SEC, who decided to investigate further. Anticevic and Omis, a city of 15,500 residents, are now front page news in the Croatian media, although Anticevic's neighbors could be forgiven for feeling a mite baffled. They say Anticevic retired a few years ago, after working all her life in a local underwear factory and now lives in a modest two-room apartment provided by the factory. And they're rooting for her--cautiously--in Croatia: "I wish that in the end, it turns out our countrywoman was just lucky, trading the stocks accidentally at that time," said the head of the country's Securities Commission. More |
