Ex-AMO chief Mazzo seeks dismissal in retrial of insider trading case

Former Advanced Medical Optics CEO James Mazzo wants a federal judge to dismiss his retrial on insider trading charges after the first round ended in a mistrial, alleging prosecutorial misconduct. Federal prosecutors argue that Mazzo can’t prove any of his allegations, according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for Central California. The feds in 2014 accused Mazzo of tipping a close friend and neighbor, former Orioles player Doug DeCinces,  about Abbott‘s (NYSE:ABT) pending $2.8 billion acquisition of Advanced Medical Optics (Abbott sold the business to Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) for $4.33 billion earlier this year). DeCinces allegedly passed that information on to former teammate Eddie Murray, who later agreed to settle his case for $358,000 but admitted no wrongdoing; DeCinces agreed in 2011 to pony up $2.5 million (but admitted no guilt) to settle similar charges leveled by the SEC. Judge Andrew Guilford of the Central California court in May declared a mistrial in Mazzo’s case after a jury deadlocked over the charges against him. But that jury also convicted DeCinces and a business associate on charges of tender offer fraud, despite deadlocking on other charges against DeCinces and all of the charges against Mazzo. Mazzo, now global ophthalmology president at Carl Zeiss Meditec (ETR:AFX) after a 3-year run as president and CEO at AcuFocus, had argued that there is “no evidence” of him “lying, cheating, or hid...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Legal News Abbott Advanced Medical Optics Insider Trading Source Type: news