Lending Tree Exec Indicted, Charged With Insider Trading
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By Judith Burns
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Lending Tree executive David Anderson was charged with insider trading Monday by the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with Lending Tree's 2003 acquisition by USA Interactive, now IAC/Interactive Corp. (IACI).
Federal prosecutors in Charlotte on Monday also unsealed a six-count April 4 indictment charging Anderson with obstructing and conspiring to obstruct justice, making false statements, and witness tampering in the insider-trading investigation.
Anderson entered a plea of not guilty to all criminal charges and has requested a jury trial, according to his Atlanta-based attorney, Tod Sawicki.
"Mr. Anderson strongly maintains his innocence in this matter," Sawicki said.
Anderson, 40 years old, of Charlotte, was Lending Tree's senior vice president in charge of new business development in 2003, and is now its general manager of settlement services.
The SEC's civil lawsuit said Anderson tipped his friend, Nancy Dipietro, 39, of Centerville, Va., to the 2003 acquisition, along with three Lending Tree employees who settled civil and criminal insider-trading charges in 2005. Anderson is the sixth to be criminally charged in the case. In addition to the three employees, an outside attorney previously pleaded guilty to insider trading, and a former Lending Tree manager pleaded guilty to charges of obstructing justice.
Charlotte-based Lending Tree provides an online network where participating lenders compete for consumers' requests for loans. Its shares soared more than 44% on May 5, 2003, when the merger with USA Interactive was announced.
Anderson, who previously worked at American Management Systems Inc. (X-AMSY), alerted his friend Dipietro, an AMS consultant, who bought shares of Lending Tree on May 1 and May 2, and sold them for a $7,895 profit when the deal became public, the SEC said.
Dipietro wasn't criminally charged. Her attorney couldn't be reached immediately for comment on the SEC's allegations.
Robert Kaplan, an assistant director in the SEC's enforcement division in Washington, D.C., said the agency's investigation into potential insider trading in Lending Tree shares is continuing.
-By Judith Burns, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6692; judith.burns@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 24, 2006 18:11 ET (22:11 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 06 11 PM EDT 04-24-06 |
