Regulators clear ATI chairman of insider trading

Canadian regulators have dismissed insider trading allegations against ATI Technologies’ chairman, his wife and other company staffers and their spouses.

Ontario Securities Commission staff had charged that KY Ho and his wife, Betty, had avoided losses and maximized their charitable tax breaks by selling or donating ATI shares ahead of a profit warning in May 2000. A number of other ATI execs were also named in the OSC staff’s claim.

On Friday, an OSC panel dismissed the allegations against all the respondents after comprehensively taking them apart in a 22-page report.

Earlier this year, the OSC approved a settlement with ATI, with the chip vendor agreeing to pay Can$900,000 ($743,000) to settle allegations that it failed to disclose key financial performance information and made "misleading statements" to the Commission during its investigation. ®