Andreas “Andy” Von Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Arista Networks Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg West television interview on Thursday, May 2, 2013, in San Francisco, California, USA.
David Paul Morris | David Paul Morris Bloomberg | Getty Images
Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems Arista Networkshas reached a settlement with the SEC over insider trading charges that will cost him nearly $1 million and bar him from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years.
The charges against Bechtolsheim, whose fortune is estimated at more than $16 billion, are Cisco Acquired Acacia Communications in 2019. SEC allegedly In Tuesday’s press release, Bechtolsheim secretly learned of the “imminent acquisition” on July 8, 2019, and traded options on Acacia, making “illegal consolidated profits of more than $415,000 after the trade became public the next day.” ”.
Cisco announced that it agreed to acquire the Internet company Acacia at a price of US$70 per share, with the transaction value reaching US$2.6 billion, pushing Acacia’s share price up by 35%.Transaction ended closure The price per share in 2021 is $115, for a total price of $4.5 billion.
The complaint, filed in federal district court in San Jose, California, alleges that Bechtolsheim, then Arista’s chairman and chief development officer, learned of Acacia’s impending acquisition from an employee at a separate, unnamed multinational technology company. The employee had consulted with Bechtolsheim about the company’s potential bid to acquire Acacia, the suit said.
Immediately after the discussion, Bettlesheim traded Acacia options in the brokerage accounts of a close relative and an associate, the lawsuit alleges.
“Bechtolsheim knew or recklessly failed to know that the information he learned about Acacia’s impending acquisition was material and non-public,” according to the indictment filed Tuesday. “Bettlesheim also knew or was recklessly ignorant that he was under a duty of trust and confidence to keep this information confidential and not to conduct transactions in Acacia securities based on this information.”
The SEC said Bechtolsheim settled the charges but did not admit or deny the charges against him. He agreed to pay a fine of $923,740.
Bechtolsheim, 68, resigned as Arista’s chairman and head of development in December but remains as its chief architect. He is the company’s largest shareholder, with a stake worth nearly $14 billion.
“While the SEC’s announcement does not involve any trading in Arista securities, Arista takes the company’s code of conduct and insider trading policy seriously,” an Arista spokesperson told CNBC in an email. “Arista will respond appropriately based on the circumstances. .”
Bechtolsheim’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bechtolsheim, who lives in Incline Village, Nevada, co-founded Arista in 2004 and took the company public a decade later. The Internet provider’s current market capitalization is nearly $95 billion.
In 1982, Bettlesheim co-founded Sun Microsystems with Scott McNeely, Vinod Khosla and Bill Joy and served as chief hardware architect. Oracle declare it $7.4 billion acquisition The Sun in 2009.
watch: Arista CEO says volatility is something we planned for
About The Author
