Vermilion Energy employee agrees to pay hefty penalty for insider trading

By Sourasis Bose and Tanay Dhumal

(Reuters) -An employee of Canadian oil and gas company Vermilion Energy has agreed to pay a C$400,000 ($302,755) penalty after admitting to illegal insider trading in a takeover target's shares, the Alberta Securities Commission said on Wednesday.

Behjat Haghshenas, who was a senior reservoir specialist for Vermilion when it was in talks to acquire Leucrotta Exploration, has also agreed to a 10-year trading ban as part of a settlement agreement with the commission, the regulator said.

The settlement is the largest in at least 10 years in terms of penalty as well as duration of the trading ban, the commission said in a statement to Reuters.

Haghshenas admitted to illegal insider trading in the shares of Leucrotta before its acquisition by Vermilion, on which she made a profit of C$146,400.

"Haghshenas became aware of material facts about the potential acquisition that were not generally disclosed and she purchased Leucrotta shares while in possession of those facts," the securities regulator said.

Vermilion bought Leucrotta for C$477 million in 2022.

Haghshenas and Vermilion did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) members imposed fines or obtained C$496,008 for illegal insider trading for the year ended June 30, compared with C$682,554 for the same period a year earlier.

($1 = 1.3212 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Sourasis Bose and Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonali Paul)