Christopher Balkenhol

San Mateo, CA: (May-14-07) The US Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against former Oracle Corp. vice president Christopher Balkenhol, 40, alleging that he was guilty of insider trading based on information about acquisition targets he learned from his wife, who also worked at the business software maker. Balkenhol's wife was a lead executive assistant to Oracle's chief executive and two co-presidents. The SEC alleged that Balkenhol made trades in 2004 and 2005 involving Oracle's bids for Retek Inc., a software solutions and services provider to the retail industry, and its rival Siebel Systems Inc. The suit claimed that on June 9, 2005, one day after Oracle's two co-presidents secretly met with Siebel's CEO to initiate merger discussions, Balkenhol bought more than $270,000 worth of Siebel's stock. In the end he bought more than 50,000 Siebel shares for about $448,000 before Oracle, on Sept. 12, 2005, publicly announced its intention to acquire Siebel. Balkenhol ended up making a profit of $82,000 by selling his entire stake in Siebel. He also made $15,000 from trading in Retek's shares. Balkenhol agreed to pay $198,000 to settle charges of insider trading. [CNN: INSIDER TRADING]

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Published on May-15-07