Hana Rado, a well-known senior business executive in Israel and Vice Chair of the Israel office of global advertising agency McCann Erickson, is apparently finalizing plans to admit to charges of insider trading in shares of Compugen Ltd. (USA) (NASDAQ:CGEN).
Rado will apparently plead guilty to charges that she bought NIS 50,000 (about USD $14,000) worth of Compugen shares which netted a quick 40% return, while in possession of material nonpublic information, according to reports by Israeli business new source Calcalist.
In August 2013 the small biotech company announced a collaboration deal and license agreement on a cancer drug with pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG (FRA:BAYN).
Rado received information about the pending Compugen-Bayer deal from her brother Aryeh Czaczkes, a pilot at Israel’s national airline El Al. Mr. Czaczkes had received the information on the pending deal from his then-wife Dikla Czaczkes-Akselbrad, who was then CFO of Compugen and one of the few people who knew about the pending agreement and its timing.
The shares were bought by Rado just one day before the Compugen-Bayer deal was announced, and sold two days after. Compugen shares, of course, soared after the Bayer agreement was announced, leading to Ms. Rado’s 40% return.
Mr. Czaczkes has already pleaded guilty to his role in the matter, receiving a sentence of four months of community service and a NIS 100,000 fine. After an initial investigation, no charges were laid against Dikla Czaczkes-Akselbrad.
Ms. Rado’s attorneys will apparently ask the presiding judge in the matter, Justice Khaled Kabub, for a sentence involving only community service. That request is likely to be opposed by the prosecutor’s office.
McCann Eirckson is a unit of Interpublic Group of Companies Inc (NYSE:IPG).