Investor Relations Pro Settles SEC Insider Trading Allegations

An investor relations firm owner agreed to pay the SEC more than $157,000 to resolve allegations he traded on inside information about clients to enrich himself, according to filings in federal court in California.

Robert Hoddes Jacobs did financial public relations work for several public companies, both through his own firm and with a colleague at his former workplace, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

“Jacobs and his colleague were regularly in possession of companies’ financial results before the results were disclosed to the public,” the agency’s complaint said. ...