The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged 11 individuals who it alleges were involved in separate insider trading schemes ahead of corporate merger announcements, the regulator said Wednesday.

The SEC alleges that five individuals, including a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs & Co. and a former financial analyst at a subsidiary of Hartford Financial Services Group, illegally tipped or traded on confidential information ahead of an announcement last year that Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. would acquire Safeco Corp., a Seattle-based insurance company.

It also alleges that six other individuals illicitly traded on non-public information in advance of an announcement in 2005 that private equity firm Odyssey Investment Partners LLC would acquire Neff Corp., a Miami-based rental equipment company.

The SEC said that the schemes were detected through surveillance of unusual trades preceding the deals.

Several of the defendants have agreed to settle the charges without admitting or denying them. As for the remaining defendants, the SEC is seeking injunctions against further violations, the return of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, and financial penalties.

“These individuals traded on confidential information with reckless disregard for the fairness of the markets and utter disrespect for their jobs or close-knit relationships. But their greed left a trail for investigators to follow,” said Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.

IE