A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

The Securities and Exchange Commission reported that it obtained a final judgment against Harry Yim on April 23. Yim had consented to the judgment as part of a settlement of the insider trading charges the SEC had brought against him in October 2007.

Yim will be permanently enjoined from violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. He also will disgorge his "ill-gotten" gains of $79,581, plus $6,124.84 in prejudgment interest, and pay a civil penalty equal to disgorgement of $79,581.

Yim agreed to the settlement without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint.

The commission's complaint alleged that Yim, of Vista, California, traded in Invitrogen (Carlsbad, California) stock immediately upon learning of non-public information about the company's poor financial results.

According to the complaint, Yim attended a company-wide, employee-only meeting on July 7, 2004. At the meeting, Invitrogen's CEO disclosed material non-public information regarding the company's negative financial performance. Immediately after the meeting, Yim attempted to sell his Invitrogen stock and continued his efforts until, on July 19, 2004, he sold all the shares of Invitrogen stock he could.

On July 21, 2004, Invitrogen reported its second-quarter earnings and lowered its revenue projections for the remainder of the company's fiscal year. After the earnings release, Invitrogen's stock price fell by more than 20%.

By selling his shares prior to the earnings release, Yim avoided losses of about $79,581 that he otherwise would have incurred from the decline in the company's stock price.

Invitrogen is a provider of life science technologies for research, production and diagnostics.