ISE vice-chairman quits over insider trading charges

John Marshall, the vice-chairman of the International Securities Exchange in New York, has resigned after being charged with insider trading.

Marshall and two others, Alan Tucker and Mark Larson, were partners in Marshall Tucker, a financial consultancy. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has charged the three with insider trading, Marshall passed confidential information to Tucker and Larson during the merger talks between ISE and Eurex last year. It claims Tucker and Larson traded on the information and made $1.1 million and $31,000 respectively from buying ISE stock and call options.

The three men have also been charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud by the US attorney for New York's southern district.

Eurex announced its $2.8 billion ISE merger in April 2007; it closed in December that year. The SEC claims that the insider trading took place from December 2006 onwards, almost as soon as takeover talks began.

See also: ISE merges with Eurex 
Deutsche Börse looking to marry Eurex with ISE