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A head-shaker - the SEC says that Pasadena-based East West Bancorp hired Renee Fraser and her firm Fraser Communications to handle marketing and PR duties as part of the bank's acquisition of San Francisco-based United Commercial Bank. The day after taking on the assignment, according to the SEC complaint, Fraser bought 10,000 shares of East West stock and then sold her shares after the acquisition announcement had been made (the price jumped 55 percent). Fraser agreed to settle the SEC's charges by paying $91,000, which is more than double what she gained in illegal profits from her alleged insider trading. Here's the complaint.
*Reader points us to the Fraser Communications website. Ouch.
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.