Golfer Phil Mickelson to forfeit nearly $1 million in SEC case

FILE - In this May 29, 2014, file photo, Phil Mickelson reacts after making double bogey on the 17th hole during the first round of the Memorial golf tournament in Dublin, Ohio. The Securities And Exchange Commission is filing a complaint against Mickelson related to insider trading. The SEC says in 2012, high-profile sports bettor Billy Walters called Mickelson, who owed him money, and urged him to trade Dean Foods stock. The SEC says Mickelson did so the next day and made a profit of $931,000. The SEC says Walters received tips and business information about Dean Foods Co. from former Dean Foods director Thomas Davis between 2008 and 2012. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)
FILE - In this May 29, 2014, file photo, Phil Mickelson reacts after making double bogey on the 17th hole during the first round of the Memorial golf tournament in Dublin, Ohio. The Securities And Exchange Commission is filing a complaint against Mickelson related to insider trading. The SEC says in 2012, high-profile sports bettor Billy Walters called Mickelson, who owed him money, and urged him to trade Dean Foods stock. The SEC says Mickelson did so the next day and made a profit of $931,000. The SEC says Walters received tips and business information about Dean Foods Co. from former Dean Foods director Thomas Davis between 2008 and 2012. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)

NEW YORK — Professional golfer Phil Mickelson has agreed to forfeit nearly $1 million that the Securities and Exchange Commission said was unfairly earned on a tip from an insider trading scheme conducted by a former corporate director and a professional gambler.

Federal prosecutors announced criminal charges Thursday against a gambler named William Walters and the former director of Dean Foods, Thomas Davis, alleging that the pair used inside information about the company to make millions of dollars in illicit stock trades between 2008 and 2012.

In 2012, the SEC says, Walters called Mickelson, who owed him money, and urged him to trade Dean Foods stock. The SEC says Mickelson did so the next day and made a profit of $931,000.

"Simply put, Mickelson made money that wasn't his to make," Andrew Ceresney, head of the SEC's Enforcement Division, said at a Manhattan news conference.

The golfer was not charged criminally in the case. As a relief defendant, Mickelson hasn't been accused of participating in the insider trading but only of profiting from the scheme.

Mickelson's management group issued a statement Thursday saying that he felt "vindicated" that the SEC hadn't been charged him with violating securities law.

Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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