Five Florida residents, including a financial advisor, have been charged with insider trading in advance of the acquisition of Pharmasset Inc. by Gilead Sciences Inc., the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday.
In a complaint filed in federal court in Newark, N.J., the SEC alleged that Thomas J. Palermo, a financial advisor in Parkland, Fla., and four others profited from knowledge that Gilead was buying Pharmasset before the public announcement was made.
Without admitting or denying guilt, Palermo agreed to pay $262,000 in fines and disgorgement of ill gotten gains, the SEC says. After the public announcement of the sale and after Palermo and others bought stock, the stock price of Pharmasset rose 84 percent.