Atiq Raza Pays $3m Fine, Settles Insider Trading Charges

Saiyed Atiq Raza, prominent Silicon Valley Pakistani-American and venture investor, agreed to pay $3m in fine to settle SEC charges of insider trading, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The charges against Saiyed Atiq Raza, 58 years old, a former president and chief operating officer of chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc., stemmed from trades he made in 2006 while serving as a director of San Francisco orthodontic device maker OrthoClear Holdings Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Mr. Raza was also barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years, and he was permanently enjoined from future violations of the federal securities laws.
The SEC alleged that Mr. Raza in September 2006 was informed by OrthoClear's chief executive Zia Chishti that the company had agreed to cease competing with rival Align Technology Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif. The agreement, which effectively put OrthoClear out of business, followed a long-running intellectual-property rights dispute between the transparent teeth-aligner market competitors.
According to the SEC, Mr. Raza within two days of learning about the settlement began making large purchases of Align call options -- which would increase in value if the company's share price rose -- before the litigation settlement agreement became public. When the OrthoClear settlement was publicly announced several days later, the price of Align stock shot up 48% and Mr. Raza netted a profit of $1,450,900, the SEC said.
Zia Chishti is a Pakistani-American founder of both Align and OrthoClear. Zia is also the founder of The Resource Group, a company with call centers in Pakistan serving clients in the United States.

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