The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a Manhattan-based independent filmmaker with insider trading on confidential information about impending takeovers of two biotechnology companies. The SEC alleges that Lawrence Robbins reaped illicit profits by trading securities based on confidential information that he received from his business partner John Michael Bennett in advance of the acquisition announcements by two companies.  Bennett had received the inside information from his friend Scott Allen, an employee at a global consulting firm.  

Mr Robbins has agreed to settle the SEC’s charges by paying more than $1 million.