Trader to pay $5.2M in Smithfield case

Federal regulators said a resident of Thailand has agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle civil charges of trading on inside knowledge of a proposed takeover bid for Smithfield Foods Inc. by a big Chinese company.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement on Thursday with Badin Rungruangnavarat, an employee of a Thai plastics company. The SEC accused him in June of making $3.2 million in illegal profits by using knowledge of the proposed Smithfield takeover before it was announced publicly on May 29.

Rungruangnavarat neither admitted nor denied the allegations. He is paying $3.2 million in restitution and a $2 million fine.