Probation For Ex-Insurance Exec In Delta Case

DENVER (AP) — Former insurance executive Michael Van Gilder was fined $5,000 and sentenced to five years' probation and six months' home detention in an insider-trading case connected to an investment by billionaire Kirk Kerkorian in Denver-based Delta Petroleum.

U.S. District Judge Wiley Daniel sentenced Van Gilder on Wednesday, The Denver Post reported.

Van Gilder, 45, had pleaded guilty to one count of illegal insider trading in connection with Kerkorian's investment. Delta Petroleum was run by Van Gilder's close friend, Roger Parker.

Van Gilder acknowledged he traded on details of Kerkorian's investment that were provided to him by an unidentified, high-level Delta executive.

Delta Petroleum eventually went bankrupt and emerged as Par Petroleum. Parker resigned as CEO before the bankruptcy.

Van Gilder and Parker are co-defendants in a civil lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to the Kerkorian deal, a $684 million investment that sent Delta's sagging stock soaring when it was announced in 2007. The SEC alleges they illegally profited from knowledge of Kerkorian's investment.

Van Gilder was CEO of a family-owned business, Van Gilder Insurance, until he stepped down in February. He remains a shareholder.

Van Gilder said he bought 90 call options on Delta Petroleum stock on Christmas Eve 2007, just before Kerkorian's buy-in to the company. He agreed in March to hand over $86,100 he made on the trades.

Van Gilder had faced a prison term of up to 18 months.

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