Two people have been charged with insider trading following a lengthy Federal investigation (CI No 3,164) into the period prior to the sale of Lotus development Corp to IBM Corp in 1995 (CI No 2,681). The scheme came to light after confidential plans that IBM wanted to buy Lotus, were leaked by an IBM employee, who is a relative of Robert Cassano, one of the people charged. It is thought Cassano passed the acquisition plans onto Gerad Mazzone who then bought shares in Lotus. Cassano and Mazzone have been accused of generating illegal profits totalling $190,000 for six people. Prior to the official disclosure that IBM wanted to buy Lotus, Lotus shares were trading at $32, but IBM bought the company for $64 a share.
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