FTC, Hedge Fund Founder Okumus Settle Hart-Scott-Rodino Allegation Over Web.com
Hedge fund founder Ahmet Okumus agreed to pay $180,000 in civil penalties over "allegations that he violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act by failing to report his purchases of voting securities" in internet services company Web.com Group, said the FTC in a…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Tuesday news release. Commissioners voted 3-0 and DOJ filed the complaint and proposed order in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Tuesday. The FTC said Okumus violated the law "exceeding the filing threshold and failing to file as required when he bought shares of Web.com" through his Okumus Opportunistic Value Fund. The law requires companies and individuals to notify the FTC and DOJ of large purchases "above certain annually adjusted thresholds and ... then observe a waiting period before closing their transactions," the commission said. Okumus violated the law from June 27, when he bought the shares, until July 14, when he sold enough shares to stop exceeding the threshold. The commission said it found the violation "inadvertent" but sought penalties because it was his second violation of the law in two years regarding Web.com. A recording for a phone number listed for Okumus Fund Management said it was out of order.