A CHINESE private equity executive has been charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with reaping US$29.05 million in illegal profit from insider trading ahead of Comcast Corp.’s purchase of DreamWorks Animation.

    The SEC said it also obtained a court order freezing five brokerage accounts controlled by Shaohua “Michael” Yin, 44, a partner at Hong Kong-based Summitview Capital Management Ltd.

    Yin was accused of trading illegally in DreamWorks stock before the US$3.8 billion takeover was announced, through Interactive Brokers accounts held in the names of five other Chinese nationals, including his septuagenarian parents.

    Yin was charged a week after the FBI executed a search warrant on his mobile phone for evidence of insider trading, the SEC said.

    Friday’s civil lawsuit seeks fines, the return of illegal profit, and other remedies.

    According to the SEC, Yin spent US$56.3 million on nearly 2.15 million DreamWorks shares in a three-week period after PAG Asia Capital, an Asia-focused private equity fund manager, made a confidential bid to buy the film studio last March 31.

    Yin unloaded the shares around the time of Comcast’s April 28 announcement that it would buy DreamWorks for US$41 per share, well above the US$26.25 average price he paid, the SEC said. (SD-Agencies)