ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 24, 1996 TAG: 9609240063
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued Donald J. Tyson Sr., founder of Tyson Foods Inc., alleging that he and a friend engaged in insider trading in 1992.
Each man agreed to pay more than $46,000 in civil penalties to settle the charges.
Tyson gave a friend, Frederick Lee Cameron, advance information about Tyson Foods' purchase of Seattle-based Arctic Alaska Fisheries Corp. in 1992, the SEC alleged.
As a result, Cameron bought 9,000 shares of Arctic two weeks before the Tyson acquisition was announced and realized $46,125 in profits when he later sold the shares, the SEC said.
The suit charging Tyson and Cameron with insider trading was filed in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, Ark.
As part of the settlement, Cameron agreed to give back the profits earned from his shares of Arctic, plus interest totaling $18,153.
Additionally, Cameron and Tyson each agreed to pay a civil penalty of $46,125, according to the SEC.
When Cameron bought the Arctic stock for $6.625 per share on June 1, 1992, he was ``in possession of material [that was] non-public information'' concerning Tyson Foods, the SEC said.
Two weeks after Cameron purchased the Arctic stock, on June 15, 1992, Tyson Foods announced that it had bought Arctic. The next day, Cameron sold his Arctic stock for $11.75 per share. Before the announcement, the SEC said, Tyson had signed a confidentiality agreement with Arctic.
Tyson was chairman and majority stockholder of Tyson Foods in 1992. Tyson now serves as senior chairman, a mostly honorary title.
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