SEC v. Fengjiu Zhang and Xianli Kong (insider trading, 2017)

Settled

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In September 2017 the SEC settled proceedings against Fengjiu Zhang, then head of CNOOC's Canadian subsidiary, and his friend Xianli Kong over trades in Nexen shares before CNOOC's $15.1 billion takeover announcement. Zhang was ordered to pay $77,260 disgorgement and Kong is jointly liable for part of it; the penalties total $88,752.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$88.8k

Disgorgement

$77.3k

Prejudgment interest

$11.3k

Total relief

$177k

Alleged gain

—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Commission found that Zhang, who knew of the CNOOC-Nexen negotiations through his job, asked an acquaintance to buy 9,000 Nexen shares for him (profit $65,769) and tipped Kong, who bought 1,500 shares on the last trading day before the July 23, 2012 announcement (profit $11,493). It found that Zhang breached his duty to his employer.

Zhang must pay disgorgement of $77,260.43, interest of $11,266.25 and a penalty of $77,260.43. Kong must pay disgorgement of $11,491.23 and interest of $1,731.61, jointly and severally with Zhang, and a separate penalty of $11,491.23. The stored figures are the combined amounts.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Insider trading — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2017-09-28 Administrative proceeding instituted (cease-and-desist)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC order

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.