*

The men are accused of insider trading on M&A, corporate

finance

information

*

Six of the defendants are considered fugitives

*

Prosecutors allege they recruited investment bankers to

supply

them with information

(Adds details about defendants, charges in paragraphs 3-4)

By Nate Raymond

BOSTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday

unveiled charges against eight men accused of belonging to a

global network that made tens of millions of dollars trading on

inside information about the finances and merger plans of

numerous companies for years.

Federal prosecutors in Boston said the insider trading

scheme ran from 2016 to 2024 and was led by Samy Khouadja, a

former Merrill Lynch banker in France; Eamma Safi, who co-owned

a French restaurant with Khouadja; and Singapore citizen Zhi Ge.

Safi is in U.S. custody and pleaded not guilty earlier this

year. Ge was provisionally arrested in 2024 in Singapore and is

subject to extradition proceedings.

The other six defendants are considered fugitives, the U.S.

Justice Department said. Those include Khouadja, who worked at

Bank of America's ( BAC ) Merrill Lynch until 2014 and is facing

securities fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges.

Their lawyers did not respond to requests for comment or

could not be reached.

Prosecutors allege Khouadja, Safi and Ge recruited

investment bankers and other corporate insiders to supply them

with confidential information about a variety of publicly traded

companies including U.S.-based ones that they and their

co-defendants then traded on.

They also recruited other traders in the United States,

Europe, the Middle East and Asia, to trade on the information

they received in exchange for a share of their insider trading

profits, prosecutors said.

The other alleged traders charged in the indictment were

Christophe Dong of France; Julien Liu of France and Hong Kong;

Patrick Chou of France and Hong Kong; Cheuk Yue Lee of Hong

Kong; and Dev Ananth Durai of Singapore.

The indictment said the insider information included that

Britain-based drugmaker AstraZeneca ( AZN ) in 2020 planned to

acquire Alexion Pharmaceuticals for $39 billion; that Louis

Vuitton owner LVMH would seek to acquire jeweler

Tiffany in 2019; and medical device maker Stryker's

plans to acquire rival Wright Medical that same year.

Prosecutors said the defendants leaked information they

obtained to journalists to make a trading profit once news about

their illicit tips became public and used "burner" cell phones

and encrypted messaging applications to conceal their activity.

They spoke in code as well, referring to money as "greens,"

insider trading as "running," a yet-to-be-announced deal as a

"race" and another company's prospective merger partners as

"girls" and "models," the indictment said.