James V. Mazzo is staying on as president of Santa Ana eye device maker Abbott Medical Optics after being charged with insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Mr. Mazzo will remain in his position until his already announced retirement at year-end,” said Scott Stoffel, a spokesman for Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Medical’s Chicago-based parent company.
Abbott named Murthy Simhambhatla, who runs its Carlsbad-based Ibis Biosciences unit, as Mazzo’s successor in May. Simhambhatla has been working with Mazzo on the transition.
Abbott Medical makes eye surgery devices and contact lens care solutions. Mazzo was charged with insider trading on Aug. 17.
Regulators allege Mazzo was the source of illegal tips on the $2.8 billion sale of the then-Advanced Medical Optics Inc. to Abbott in 2009.
The SEC alleged the tips resulted in $2.4 million in unlawful profits. Retired professional baseball player Doug DeCinces, identified by investigators as a neighbor and friend of Mazzo’s, earlier paid a $2.5 million fine settle insider-trading charges. Hall of Famer Eddie Murray, a one-time teammate of DeCinces, more recently paid $358,151 in a similar agreement.
Mazzo “flatly and unequivocally denies the SEC’s allegations,” said Richard Marmaro, his lawyer, in a statement. The notion he would put his reputation at risk “to give a single friend inside information is absurd,” Marmaro said.
Also charged in the case is David L. Parker, who federal investigators identified as a Utah resident. Parker is listed as managing partner of Irvine-based SRS Capital Partners.
