Court freezes assets in Zhongpin insider trading case

A court in the US ordered the assets of six Chinese citizens and a British Virgins Islands company frozen in response to an insider-trading investigation surrounding Chinese pork producer Zhongpin (HOGS.NASDAQ), Bloomberg reported. The US Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that the individuals and Prestige Trade Investments, an offshore company, took in over US$9.2 million in profits from insider knowledge that Zhongpin’s chairman would announce a bid to take the firm private on March 26. The company’s Nasdaq-listed shares rose 22% the day after the announcement was made. The SEC alleges that the traders made “eerily well-timed” and “highly suspicious” purchases of call options and stock in the firm before the announcement. US District Judge Matthew Kennelly ordered the defendants to repatriate to the US any funds moved out of the country since March 27.