New York: Two Indian-origin entrepreneurs have been charged by a top US regulator with insider trading in connection with the 2013 proposed acquisition of American company Cooper Tire and Rubber by India's Apollo Tyres.

Amit Kanodia of Massachusetts, a 47-year-old entrepreneur and private equity investor, and Iftikar Ahmed, of Connecticut, a general partner at a venture capital firm have been charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a complaint filed in US district court in Connecticut. The SEC is seeking to have Kanodia and Ahmed return their allegedly ill-gotten gains with interest and pay civil monetary penalties.