Peter Mondrose
Golfer Phil Mickelson has been named in an insider trading case brought forward by the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday morning, according to a filing.
Mickelson received insider tips from sport bettor Billy Walters, one of the co-lead defendants in the case, regarding Dean Foods. Walters received his information from Dean Foods chairman Thomas Davis, the other co-lead defendant.
According to the filing, Walters called Mickelson in July 2012 telling him to purchase Dean Foods stock based on information he had received from Davis that the company was about to spin off its WhiteWave division.
Within a week, Dean Foods stock rose 40% and Phil Mickelson took in about $1 million from his investment.
In the case, Mickelson is a relief defendant, meaning that he was unaware of the scheme between Walters and Davis.
The case is focused on the relationship between Walters and Davis from 2008 through 2012, which netted at least $40 million in profits.
Here’s the SEC’s breakdown of the case:
In July 2012, Walters called professional golfer Philip A. Mickelson. Mickelson had placed bets with Walters both before and after July 2012 and owed Walters money at the time of the telephone call. At a time when Walters was in possession of material nonpublic information regarding Dean Foods, Walters communicated with Mickelson and urged Mickelson to trade in Dean Foods stock, which Mickelson did the next trading day in three brokerage accounts he controlled. About one week later, Dean Foods’s stock price jumped 40% on the announcements of the WhiteWave spin-off and strong second quarter (“Q2”) 2012 earnings, allowing Mickelson to profit by approximately $931,000.
Phil Mickelson may be asked to pay back the profit he earned, but he is not under investigation personally.
