The Professional Golfers Association website said Mickelson had career earnings of more than $79 million on the tour, second only to Tiger Woods' $110 million. In 2015, Forbes magazine estimated Mickelson earned more than $40 million a year from appearances and sponsorship deals, which also include Barclays PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp and Rolex.

The SEC said Mickelson had placed bets with Walters both before and after July 2012, when the gambler called Mickelson with his Dean Foods tip.

Walters and Davis, the former Dean Foods CEO, engaged in a years-long scheme to trade in the food company's stock ahead of major corporate announcements, according to federal authorities. Davis already has pleaded guilty.

The $2.4 million position that Mickelson took in Dean Foods using three brokerage accounts dwarfed his other investment holdings in those accounts, which together amounted to less than $250,000, the SEC said.

The Dean Foods case was brought by Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, who amassed a nearly perfect record in dozens of insider trading cases before the 2014 appellate court ruling limited the scope of insider trading laws.

At a press conference, Bharara would not comment on the ruling's effect on the Dean Foods case but acknowledged it has impacted his ability to prosecute some "nefarious conduct."

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