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Former Cox Exec Settles SEC Case

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 June 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Scott Leith, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Jun. 24--A former head of investor relations at Cox Communications has agreed to pay nearly $386,000 to settle an insider trading probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Frank R.V. Loomans, who according to the SEC fled to his native Belgium after the investigation began, used his close knowledge of Cox finances to make transactions involving Cox shares and those of another company, Concurrent Computer Corp. of Duluth.

Loomans gained $285,505 illegally, according to a settlement disclosed earlier this week by the SEC. He has agreed to pay the money back, plus interest and a penalty of $25,000, the SEC said.

Loomans is the second former Cox official to settle with the SEC this year. In April, the SEC disclosed that Garner Anthony, a former chairman and CEO of Cox Enterprises, agreed to pay $101,800.

Anthony used insider knowledge to profit from the sale of Cox Communications shares, according to the SEC.

Atlanta-based Cox Communications, one of the nation's largest cable operators, was publicly traded at the time but is now privately held by Cox Enterprises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also is a unit of Cox Enterprises.

Loomans, who worked for Cox Communications from May 1999 until his resignation in February 2002, held posts that included head of investor relations.

According to charges filed in February 2005, Loomans used nonpublic information to trade options. He used an account set up in the name of his father, Luc Loomans of Belgium, to make the transactions.

Early in the SEC's probe, Loomans falsely said he had no knowledge of his father's account, according to court filings.

In the settlement, Loomans neither admitted nor denied the allegations, but he is prohibited from serving as an officer or director of a public company. If Loomans pays the settlement as agreed, the SEC will dismiss claims against his father.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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COX,

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

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