| GEO Business | | EADS executives named in French insider trading report | Updated at: 1200 PST, Thursday, July 30, 2009
 PARIS: An investigation by the Paris stock market regulator has concluded that seven former and current European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) executives engaged in insider trading.
In a report released to news agencies late on Tuesday, the Financial Market Authority (AMF) stock market regulator said Chief Executive Noel Forgeard and six other current or former executives of the aircraft manufacturer engaged in insider trading when they used advance knowledge of a delay in the Airbus A380 program to sell company stock.
The AMF report stated that the men made millions of euros in total by exercising company stock options in March 2006 - with knowledge that the Airbus A380 project would be delayed - before a formal announcement of the delay was made.
The AMF has the authority to fine each of the seven men, who also include the former EADS deputy chief executive, Jean-Paul Gut, and Andreas Sperl, the former chief financial officer of Airbus and current head of an EADS plant in Germany, up to 1.5 million euros ($2.14 million).
The probe is one of two parallel investigations into alleged insider trading at Airbus parent company EADS, the other is a criminal inquiry.
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