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Monday, May 14, 2007

Ellison’s aide linked to Oracle insider trading (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO - In the latest crackdown on illicit pillow talk, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday accused a former Oracle Corp. vice president of improperly profiting from his wife's knowledge about two deals engineered by her boss — Oracle's acquisitive chief executive, Larry Ellison.

Christopher Balkenhol, the former Oracle vice president named in a civil complaint filed in a San Francisco federal court, agreed to pay nearly $199,000 to settle the case without admitting or denying wrongdoing. His attorney didn't immediately return phone messages Monday.

The SEC alleged Balkenhol, 40, had invested more than $530,000 in two of Oracle's takeover targets during 2005 based on intimate information passed along by his wife, the supervising executive assistant for Ellison as well as the company's co-presidents, Charles Phillips and Safra Catz.

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