SEC Charges Former Delta Petroleum CEO with Tipping Friend

The SEC charged Roger Parker, the former CEO of Delta Petroleum Corporation, with being at the center of an insider trading scheme that the SEC began prosecuting last month.  According to the SEC’s complaint, the insider trading occurred in advance of Delta Petroleum's public announcement that private investment firm Tracinda had agreed to purchase a 35 percent stake in the company, which shot its stock value up by nearly 20 percent. The SEC initially charged insurance executive Michael Van Gilder for his illegal trading in the case, and is now additionally charging his source: Delta’s then-CEO Roger Parker.

The SEC’s amended complaint alleges that Parker illegally tipped his close friend Van Gilder and at least one other friend with confidential information about Tracinda’s impending investment and about Delta’s quarterly earnings. The insider trading in this case generated more than $890,000 in illicit profits.