Ken and Lyle Pretty were fined close to $250,000 in settlement with the Alberta Securities Commission. The two were facing charges of insider tipping and insider trading during merger/acquisition discussions.

The two residents of Priddis, Alta. admitted to breaching Alberta’s securities laws and acting contrary to the public interest when they profited from a scheme to use undisclosed material Ken learned through his work at various oil companies. Ken was vice president at Newport Petroleum, Hunt Oil Company and APF Energy.

Lyle admitted to trading on the information he obtained from his son, the profits amounting to about $193,000 between the two of them.

Ken and Lyle will pay $145,000 and $95,000 to settle the allegations and $3,000 and $2,000 towards investigation costs respectively.

Lyle agreed to cease trading in securities for a period of three years. Ken agreed to do the same for a period of five years and to refrain from acting as director or officer of any reporting issuer for that same period.

A copy of the settlement is available on ASC website.