Ex-ATI CEO insider trading hearing postponed

Other accused settle with Ontario Securities Commission

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 1st April 2005 11:06 GMT

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Former ATI CEO K Y Ho will now have to wait until 11 April to hear what action the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) may take against him after it examines allegations that he engaged in insider trading.

The OSC this week adjourned a hearing into the matter, scheduled after OSC investigators accused Ho, his wife Betty, one-time ATI investor relations chief Jo-Anne Chang and her husband David Stone of selling shares in the company just before the firm announced a profit warning in May 2000.

Earlier this week, the OSC approved a settlement with ATI itself, which will see the graphics chip maker pay CAD900,000 ($743,000) to settle allegations that it failed to disclose key financial performance information and made "misleading statements" to the Commission.

The following day, the OSC also approved a settlement with two other individuals alleged to have benefited materially from their inside knowledge of the company's financial state: marketing administration chief Mary De La Torre and her husband Alan Rae.

Under the terms of the settlement, De La Torre admitted she "had access to material information that had not been generally disclosed [and] which was communicated to Rae, her husband", the OSC said. On 23 May 2000, Rae sold 1000 ATI shares in advance of the company's 24 May earnings release.

De La Torre and Rae were both ordered not to trade in securities for the next six months. The pair agreed to pay the OSC CAD11,050 ($9137), an amount equal to the loss they avoided by selling those 1000 shares a day ahead of the profit warning. ®