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SEC charges eight men with insider trading around 2009 Sanofi deal


    (Reuters) - Securities regulators on Tuesday charged eight people with illegally trading on inside information in 2009 about French pharmaceutical company Sanofi's plan to buy a Tennessee-based company that made allergy medicine and other products.

    The men made more than $500,000 in illegal profits by trading on information about SANOFI (SAN.PA)s planned acquisition of Chattem Inc, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement.

    Chattem produces the allergy medicine Allegra, skin care products such as Gold Bond, pain-relieving lotion IcyHot and other products.

    Regulators said a Georgia accountant received confidential information about the acquisition from a client who was on the board of directors at Chattem. The accountant tipped off friends, who traded on the information, and some passed the information along to others, the SEC said.

    Four of the men have agreed to settle the charges and pay back money made on the trades, plus interest and penalties, for a combined total of more than $175,000. One of the four will be blocked from practicing before the SEC as an accountant, regulators said.

    The SEC will continue its case against the other four men, according to the statement.

    (Reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Dan Grebler)