Major League Baseball

DeCinces to pay over $2.5M in settlement

Published Aug. 4, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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Former major-leaguer Doug DeCinces agreed Thursday to pay more than $2.5 million to settle insider trading charges based on allegations he profited from a confidential tip about the sale of a medical supply company.

According to a release from the SEC, DeCinces also tipped off three others, who traded on the information to net a total of more than $500,000. The other men also agreed to settlements with the SEC, but none of the four men admitted guilty in doing so.

The SEC complaint alleges the 60-year-old DeCinces made more than $1.2 million after accumulating at least 83,700 shares in Advanced Medical Optics Inc. in late 2008 and early 2009. The company was purchased by Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories in Jan. 2009, and when the deal was announced the stock surged 143 percent, at which point DeCinces and the others are alleged to have sold their shares.

The complaint alleges that DeCinces, who played from 1973 to 1987 with the Baltimore Orioles and California Angels, was tipped off about the sale of Advanced Medical Optics by an employee of the company.

"Time and again, we see reputable people engaging in insider trading and risking their good names in order to enrich themselves and those around them," said Daniel M. Hawke, Chief of the SEC Division of Enforcement's Market Abuse Unit and Director of the Philadelphia Regional Office. "People need to understand that we are watching for suspicious trading activity, and they will pay a heavy price when we catch them insider trading."

The three others were named by the SEC as physical therapist Joseph J. Donohue, real estate lawyer Fred Scott Jackson, and businessman Roger A. Wittenbach.

In their settlement agreements, Donohue agreed to pay $113,355, Jackson agreed to pay $293,026, and Wittenbach agreed to pay $422,366, according to the SEC. The settlements must receive final approval from a judge.

DeCinces, who lives in Laguna Beach, Calif., hit 237 home runs in his career and reached the World Series in 1979 with the Orioles. The third baseman was named to the American League All-Star team in 1983.

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