TV Azteca Exec, Broker Are Accused of Fraud

Former TV Azteca Executive President Moises Saba Masri and his broker were accused of securities fraud in a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The civil suit, filed Wednesday in federal court in New York, accuses Saba, 40, and broker Albert Sutton, 39, of manipulating the closing price of TV Azteca’s U.S.-traded shares in 1999 to avoid a $4.3-million loss. Sutton is principal of New York-based Middlegate Securities Ltd.

Saba, currently chairman of wireless operator Unefon, said the SEC was trying to use the suit to put pressure on him because the agency had failed to find any wrongdoing so far in its investigation of profit he made from debt owed by Unefon.

TV Azteca owns two TV networks in Mexico.