Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2005 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – In an emergency federal court action filed today, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a Temporary Restraining Order against Sonja Anticevic, a Croatian national and resident.
The Commission alleges that a securities account in Anticevic’s name engaged
in a series of highly suspicious, and highly profitable, trades in “out of
the money” call options of Reebok International Ltd. just prior to Reebok’s
Aug. 3, 2004, announcement that it had agreed to be acquired by
adidas-Salomon AG.
The Commission’s complaint alleges that on Aug. 1 and 2, 2005, the Anticevic
account purchased a total of at least 1,997 “out of the money” call option
contracts for the common stock of Reebok. Following the acquisition
announcement on Aug. 3, 2005, the price of Reebok’s common stock rose more
than 30 percent from its closing price the prior day. The Anticevic account
sold all of the call options after the price rise, realizing profits of over
$2.04 million. Also on August 3, shortly after the sale of the options
contracts, the brokerage firm received a wire instruction request to
transfer approximately $870,000 of the proceeds from the Reebok trades to a
bank account maintained in Salzburg, Austria.
Acting on the Commission’s request for emergency relief, the United States
District Court for the Southern District of New York today issued a
temporary restraining order which, among other things, freezes the proceeds
of the highly suspicious Reebok trades to prevent the movement of those
funds outside of the United States.
Mark K. Schonfeld, the Director of the Commission’s Northeast Regional
Office, said, “We responded immediately to an attempt to move ill-gotten
funds overseas and beyond the reach of U.S. Courts. We will take swift
measures against those who seek to diminish the integrity of our markets.”
In the pending lawsuit, the Commission alleges that Anticevic engaged in
illegal insider trading in violation of Section 10(b) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. The complaint seeks permanent
injunctive relief, the disgorgement of all illegal profits, and the
imposition of civil monetary penalties.
