Christie Hefner's husband was accused of insider trading of Playboy stock in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Reuters reports. The SEC said William Marovitz improperly traded shares in his own brokerage account from 2004 to 2009 based on company information from his wife, who served as chief executive officer from 1988 till she stepped down in January of 2009. Shortly after the suit was filed, Marovitz agreed to pay the SEC $168,352 plus interest and civil fines without admitting wrongdoing.
The Wall Street Journal's Shira Ovide explains that the suit said Hefner warned her husband not to make trades based on insider knowledge--like of a proposed takeover of Playboy, for example--until a public announcement had been made.
Ovide offers some context:
Hugh Hefner earlier this year reached a deal to take Playboy private. But before that deal was struck with the help of private-equity firm Rizvi Traverse Management, Playboy had fielded other takeover offers. In the one cited by the SEC, Playboy around 2009 was talking with Iconix Brand Group, owner of the London Fog brand, about a takeover.
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Elspeth Reeve
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