The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
US Finds Croat Guilty of Insider Trading
Zagreb | 01 December 2009 |
A New York court has found a retired Croatian national guilty of taking part in an insider trading ring, ordering her to pay 5.7 million dollars in damages.
Sonja Anticevic, a 63-year-old retired Croatian seamstress, allegedly netted more than $6 million in illicit profits.
In an order, District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan granted the US Securities & Exchange Commission's request for a default judgment against Anticevic, ordering her to pay 2.63 million dollars in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and 3.08 million in civil penalties, the Dow Jones news agency reports.
The Exchange Commission had alleged that Anticevic allowed two brokerage accounts in her name to be used by her nephew, David Pajcin, to execute improper trades.
"The facts alleged indicate that Anticevic played an important role in the schemes by making it easier for Pajcin to hide his insider trading. Anticevic was not, however, one of the main perpetrators of the schemes, and she did not conduct any of the illegal trading or provide any of the insider tips," the judge said.
"In addition, Anticevic was involved in only five of the ten counts of illegal trading alleged in the complaint; other defendants were involved in all ten counts. Therefore, while it is clear that Anticevic is culpable, her level of involvement in the schemes does not warrant the award of the maximum civil penalty against her," the judge added, as quoted by Dow Jones.
Anticevic failed to appear at a deposition earlier this year in the civil case.
Prosecutors from the US Attorney's office in Manhattan had alleged that Pajcin, a one-time analyst in Goldman Sachs, and Eugene Plotkin, a former Goldman fixed-income research associate, orchestrated an insider-trading ring that generated at least 6.7 million dollars in illegal proceeds.
Plotkin pleaded guilty to conspiracy and insider trading in 2007 and was sentenced to 57 months in prison in January 2008. Pajcin was sentenced to "time served" in January 2008, after pleading guilty to conspiracy, insider trading and perjury in April 2006 and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. Pajcin also was ordered to serve three years supervised release and to forfeit 6.7 million dollars.
Anticevic has refused to comment on the case but had earlier claimed she had no knowledge of the share trades.
