SEC v. John Special and John Kenneth Davidson (insider trading, 2019)

Settled

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In December 2019 the SEC announced settlements with Oklahoma oil and gas executives John Special and John Davidson over trading in Covidien before Medtronic's takeover, with more than $1.5 million in profit. Combined, they and relief defendant Michael Murphy agreed to $1,561,454 disgorgement, $235,604 interest and $1,561,454 in penalties, subject to court approval.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$1.6m

Disgorgement

$1.6m

Prejudgment interest

$236k

Total relief

$3.4m

Alleged gain

$1.5m

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 SEC alleged that Davidson learned of the deal from a director neighbour despite a warning not to trade, bought shares, and told Special in confidence; Special bought stock and options, including in Murphy's account, and sold the next morning. Special agreed to disgorge $1,182,472, pay $231,782 interest and a $1,542,242 penalty; Davidson $19,212, $3,822 and $19,212; Murphy, a relief defendant not charged with wrongdoing, $359,770 representing profits from the trading in his account. The stored figures are the sums.

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. 2019-12-12 Litigation release published

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 litigation release

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.