By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday accused a former SAP SE <SAPG.DE> executive and three others of insider trading based on a tip he supplied about an impending merger.
The SEC alleged that Christopher Salis, then a global vice president at the software company’s SAP America unit, received thousands of dollars in kickbacks for tipping a friend ahead of its acquisition of Concur Technologies in 2014.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Hammond, Indiana, the SEC said a Salis friend, Douglas Miller, then tipped his brother, Edward Miller, and a mutual friend, Barrett Biehel. They then made trades before the merger’s announcement.
The SEC said Salis, 39, in 2007 also tipped Douglas Miller, who co-owns a cash wash in Indiana with his brother, to non-public information in advance of a tender offer by SAP for Business Objects, Salis’ then-employer.
These tips resulted in more than $545,000 in trading profits for Douglas Miller, his family, Biehel and another friend, the SEC said.
Kickbacks to Salis included at least $10,400 in cash, the SEC said. A startup company he owned later received approximately $80,000 from Miller and his family, the SEC said.
Lawyers for Salis, the Millers and Biehel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Salis et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana, No. 16-00231.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York and Mohammad Zargham in Washington; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Jeffrey Benkoe)
