Medical device maker Cardiovascular Solutions said in a filing late Friday that the Securities and Exchange Commission has made an informal request for information related to Easton Hunt Capital Partners, L.P., John Friedman, a director of the company and a principal of Easton, and Cardiovascular's rules for insider transactions.
The SEC request comes after the company received two grand jury subpoenas from the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York seeking the same information in late April.
According to Cardiovascular's filing, "The investigations appear to be related to sales of company common stock in early 2012 by Easton pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan" described in an April 25 article in the Wall Street Journal.
Friedman, a member of Cardiovascular's board of directors, reported selling $3.3 million worth of Cardiovascular Systems stock through his New York investment fund, Easton Capital Group, in early 2012, according to SEC filings. The sales occurred just before the company reported quarterly results that were below expectations and warned of a likely loss in the fiscal year.
The insider trading investigation centers on proper use of "10b5-1 plans," trading plans that allow officers and directors of a company to sell some of their shares on a predetermined basis.
The company said in the filing that it has already responded to the earlier request from the U.S. attorney's office and will comply with the request from the SEC.
"The U.S. attorney's office has confirmed that the company is not a target of its investigation and the company does not believe that it is a target of the investigation by the SEC," according to Cardiovascular's filing.
The company also said it does not believe the investigations will have any material effect on the company's operations. New Brighton-based Cardiovascular makes medical devices for the minimally invasive treatment of vascular disease.
