A business executive accused of passing inside...

A business executive accused of passing inside corporate information to a friend who later used it to buy stock in a North Carolina air cargo service settled civil charges by agreeing to pay the government more than $282,000. Donald L. Sturm, 56, signed a consent agreement without admitting guilt, settling a civil insider trading lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC accused Sturm, a bank owner and vice chairman of Omaha, Neb.-based Peter Kiewit Son’s Inc., a construction and manufacturing company, of getting non-public information from a relative about the corporate takeover of the air cargo service.