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Japan Regulator Seeks Insider Trading Charges for Ex-TSE Staffer

Tokyo (Akio Kon/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s securities watchdog filed a complaint to prosecutors against a former Tokyo Stock Exchange employee and his father for alleged insider trading, the latest in a slew of scandals that have rocked the nation’s financial industry.

The father traded shares of Lawson Inc. and a few other companies using non-public information provided by his son about planned tender offers involving those stocks, according to a release Monday from the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission. The TSE fired the employee Monday.

The commission also asked prosecutors on the same day to charge a Financial Services Agency staff member for alleged insider trading. The suspect, who according to the commission is a court employee temporarily working for the financial regulator, has traded shares of companies including Mimasu Semiconductor Industry Co. and Nihon Housing Co. using non-public information about planned tender offers. 

The development follows a series of improprieties involving Nomura Holdings Inc. and other major financial firms, dealing a blow to confidence in the nation’s both public and private sectors. The SESC is the FSA’s investigative arm.

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