Former chief executive of Cox Enterprises in settlement of SEC insider-trading charges

<p>A former chief executive of media conglomerate Cox Enterprises Inc. has agreed to pay more than $100,000 to settle federal regulators' charges that he used advance knowledge of Cox's 2004 offer to buy out its publicly held cable TV unit to illegally profit from sales of company stock.</p><p>In the settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Thursday, former CEO Garner Anthony is paying a $50,900 civil fine and returning an additional $50,900 plus interest in allegedly illegal trading profits. Anthony neither admitted nor denied the SEC's allegations, made in a civil lawsuit filed Tuesday, but did agree to refrain from future violations of the federal securities laws.</p><p>The SEC suit was filed in federal court in Honolulu, where the 76-year-old Anthony lives. It alleges that Anthony _ who had been chairman and CEO of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises from 1974 to 1987 _ met on July 27, 2004, with an officer and director of the company, who told him that a buyout offer for the cable TV subsidiary, Cox Communications Inc., was being considered. The discussions concerning the potential offer, which began in June, were confidential.</p><p>The Cox officer-director who allegedly gave Anthony the confidential information was not named.</p><p>The next day, July 28, Anthony bought 10,000 shares of Cox Communications, according to the SEC. Cox Enterprises' offer, to buy out the public shareholders in the subsidiary for $32 a share and take it private, was announced on Aug. 2. That caused the price of Cox Communications shares to jump about 20 percent, to $33.16, netting Anthony $50,900 in illegal profits, the SEC said.</p><p>The deal was completed in October 2004.</p><p>Anthony's attorney, David Russell, didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cda984)</p><p>HASH(0x1cdaa2c)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/4/126058