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Global

FBI arrests two on Disney insider trading charges


    LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - An assistant to a top executive at Walt Disney Co gave confidential information about Disney's quarterly earnings to a friend who in turn tried to sell it to hedge funds, U.S. prosecutors said on Wednesday.

    The employee, Bonnie Hoxie, and her friend, Yonni Sebbag, otherwise known as Jonathan Cyrus according to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, were arrested by FBI agents in Los Angeles.

    They were both charged with conspiracy and wire fraud in allegations of illegal insider trading.

    Disney representatives were not immediately available to comment.

    A statement by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney said that from March 2010 through May 25, 2010, Hoxie was employed as a secretary to Disney's Head of Corporate Communications.

    "In this capacity, Hoxie obtained material, nonpublic information, including Disney's quarterly earnings statements.

    "Then, in violation of her duties of trust and confidence, Hoxie disclosed the Inside Information to Sebbag, who in turn disclosed the inside information to outside investors for the purpose of trading in advance of the official public announcement of Disney's earnings," the statement said.

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges. The complaint said that Sebbag was Hoxie's boyfriend. It said they sent anonymous letters to more than 20 U.S. and European hedge funds, offering pre-release of Disney second quarter 2010 results in exchange for a fee.

    (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Grant McCool in New York; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)