Two previously unnamed defendants have come forward in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil lawsuit over alleged insider trading in Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc while the company was mulling a takeover bid, and said they did nothing wrong.Dhia Jafar and Omar Nabulsi, both of Dubai, said a court-ordered freeze should be lifted on the $2.53 million profit that they made from buying Onyx call options in the last week of June, according to filings late Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.The defendants said that when they bought the call options, they had no material, non-public information that biotechnology company Amgen Inc was trying to purchase smaller rival Onyx for $10 billion, a hefty premium at the time.Both defendants called themselves frequent options traders who engage in speculative trading. Nabulsi said he had been following Onyx since Jim Cramer, on CNBC's "Mad Money" TV show in early April, said it "may be one of the best new drug companies in the world." ()
Amgen Inc. is a global biotechnology pioneer that discovers, develops, manufactures and delivers human therapeutics. Shares of AMGN traded higher by 0.13% or $0.14/share to $106.76. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $76.60 and as high as $114.95. On average, 3521090 shares of AMGN exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 708689.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Onyx) is a biopharmaceutical company. Shares of ONXX traded higher by 0.25% or $0.32/share to $130.63. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $66.37 and as high as $136.87. On average, 1749390 shares of ONXX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 308096.
Source
