Posted on 10/03/2007 8:24:06 AM PDT by SW6906
PARIS (AP) -- A lengthy probe by France's stock market authority points to "massive insider trading" at Airbus parent EADS, findings that have been forwarded to prosecutors, judicial officials said Wednesday.
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Judicial officials said the preliminary report indicated "massive" insider trading by 21 top managers at European Aeronautic Defense & Space between November 2005 and March 2006. The officials said the report was in the hands of investigating magistrate Xaviere Simeoni, who could file preliminary charges in the next few months.
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The AMF has been investigating how much executives and board members knew about profit-damaging problems with the A380 superjumbo and mid-range A350 when they sold shares or exercised stock options worth several million euros between November 2005 and March 2006.
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Le Figaro daily reported that the AMF's note to prosecutors indicates that Arnaud Lagardere, then co-chairman of EADS; the EADS joint CEOs at the time, Thomas Enders and Noel Forgeard; some members of EADS' executive committee; and Airbus' then-CEO Gustav Humbert knew about profit problems linked to the A380 and A350 before they were announced.
Forgeard and his children exercised stock options in the company at a profit of $3.2 million (€2.5 million) in March 2006, according to AMF filings. Forgeard has denied wrongdoing.
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Airbus and EADS have been seriously shaken over the past year and a half by management strife, the insider trading accusations and the strong euro, which means the planes are less profitable because they are sold in dollars.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Ping!
BTTT
Amazingly, Congressmen CAN legally trade using insider information, including information they gleaned from holding closed hearings!
I'm hoping this is just the first shoe to drop and Sarkozy will get around to exposing Chirac's fingers in the Oil-for-Food deal.
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