$300,000 Settlement in Inside Trading Case

Computer Horizons Corp. Chairman John J. Cassese agreed to pay $300,000 to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that he traded on inside information about a merger between two other companies. The SEC alleged that Cassese, the top official at the information technology services company, bought Data Processing Resources Corp. shares after learning about a planned tender offer for its stock from Compuware Corp.

Cassese sold all 15,000 shares of Data Processing after Compuware’s merger offer was announced in June 1999, pocketing $150,937 in profit, the SEC said. “I’m very well paid, and it looks stupid,” said Cassese, 57, who has been chairman since 1983. He neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing and agreed to settle the SEC complaint by paying a $150,937 fine and surrendering $150,937 in profit.