Bangkok resident Badin Rungruangnavarat raised some red flags with the SEC when he bagged more than $3.2 million on a stake in Smithfield Foods right as the U.S. pork producer announced its $4.7 billion takeover by a Chinese company, reports Jean Eaglesham at the Wall Street Journal.
Badin opened an account with the brokerage firm Interactive Brokers on May 10, at which point he began buying up Smithfield equities like he owned the place.
The Commission used Rungruangnavarat’s Facebook friend list to, like, totally see who he'd been hanging out with, according to the Journal. That resulted in a link between Rungruangnavarat and the associate director of a Thai investment bank that advised a possible rival suitor of Smithfield.
The SEC froze Badin's brokerage account late Wednesday while investigating the alleged insider-trading scheme.
Which once again brings up that age old reminder: If you have to inside trade, keep it off Facebook.
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