Golfer Phil Mickelson was named in an insider trading complaint made on May 19 by the Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC).
The complaint was filed against two other individuals, a gambler named William Walters and former Dean Foods director Thomas Davis, who was with the company from 2008 to 2012.
The SEC says Walters received tips from his “long-time friend” Davis, who also gave him highly-confidential business information regarding Dean Foods, including sneak previews of at least six of the company’s quarterly earnings announcements. The complaint also says Davis provided Walters with an advance notice of the spin-off of Dean Foods’s profitable subsidiary, The WhiteWave Foods Company.
The SEC claims that Davis provided Walters with inside information that the former director obtained from investors—who had confidentially shared their plans to buy Darden Restaurant Inc. stock in 2013, aiming to push the company to make corporate changes.
With the help of inside tips, Walters traded Dean Foods and Darden securities, collecting illicit trading profits and saving a total of $40 million in loss, said the complaint.
The SEC says Walters helped Davis with his financial problems in exchange for the insider information.
