An Israeli professor has agreed to pay more than $850,000 to settle U.S. claims he engaged in insider trading in Jerusalem-based Mobileye NV, a maker of sensors and cameras for self-driving vehicles, ahead of its $15.3 billion takeover by Intel Corp.

According to an agreement filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday in Manhattan federal court, Ariel Darvasi, a genetics professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, will pay about $854,000. The agreement must be approved by U.S. District Judge Richard Berman.

“I have now agreed to a settlement under which I do not admit anything, I do not deny anything, and obviously I was not convicted of any wrongdoing,” Darvasi said in a statement sent through a spokesman for the university. “I am currently fighting pancreatic cancer and a civil trial in a faraway foreign country is unfortunately beyond my strengths.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

University spokesman Dov Smith said the university was not involved in the case had no comment.

The SEC in March charged that Darvasi, of Mevaseret Zion, Israel, and another Israeli, Amir Waldman, made “remarkably timed” purchases of Mobileye shares and call options prior to Intel’s March 13 acquisition of Mobileye.

The SEC said the purchases resulted in about $427,000 of profit for Darvasi.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount