Former California Angels baseball star and local real estate developer Doug DeCinces has been charged with insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC said on Thursday.
The SEC alleges that DeCinces illegally profited from the $2.8 billion acquisition of Santa Ana-based Abbott Medical Optics Inc. by Chicago-area drug and medical device maker Abbott Laboratories in 2009.
The complaint was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, according to the SEC.
The SEC complaint alleges that DeCinces and three associates made more than $1.7 million in illegal profits when Abbott announced its plan to purchase Advanced Medical Optics Inc. through a tender offer.
DeCinces is alleged to have received confidential information about the impending acquisition from a source at Advanced Medical Optics, and immediately began to purchase the company’s shares while tipping off others about the deal.
DeCinces has agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle the SEC’s charges, the government said. The settlement is subject to final approval by the court.
DeCinces played six seasons for the Angels and counted a 15-year Major League career.
He lives in Laguna Beach and developed Irvine’s Strawberry Farms Golf Club.
