SEC accuses three of insider trading in Sherwin-Williams/Valspar deal

• An analyst at a major credit rating agency was accused of tipping two of his friends off about the deal.
• It is alleged that the people who received the information illegally profited $300,000 by trading Valspar securities.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday charged three people with insider trading ahead of Sherwin-Williams' March 2016 announcement that it had agreed to buy Valspar.

Sebastian Pinto-Thomaz, an analyst at a major credit rating agency, was accused of tipping his friends Abell Oujaddou and Jeremy Millul after learning about the acquisition. The SEC said Oujaddou and Millul then made about $300,000 of illegal profit by trading Valspar securities.