Melvin Pomerantz agreed to settle SEC charges.

The 61-year-old Texas businessman and his mother-in-law reaped $39,925 in profits by illegally trading on information they learned in confidence a day before SFN Cos. announced a leveraged buyout, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged in federal court. Pomerantz, of San Antonio, Tex., agreed to settle the charges by returning the $39,925 and paying a penalty of $79,850. His mother-in-law was not formally charged.