Consulant in NBTY sale fined for insider trading

A Chicago consultant faces criminal charges in connection with alleged insider trading in the run-up to a private equity company's takeover of NBTY, a Long Island vitamin maker, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday.

Sherif Mityas "has agreed to pay more than $78,000 to settle the SEC’s charges," the SEC said in a news release.

"In a parallel action, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York today announced the unsealing of criminal charges against Mityas," the SEC said Thursday.

The SEC alleges that the management consultant, Mityas, along with others who worked at his global management consulting firm, were retained by The Carlyle Group to provide strategic advice. Mityas did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment.

The same month his firm was hired by the Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm, Mityas bought NBTY stock, then tipped off a relative who also bought NBTY shares, the SEC said.

After Carlyle publicly announced its acquisition of NBTY, Mityas and his relative sold their NBTY stock for a combined profit of nearly $38,000, the SEC said.

Photo shows the NBTY's plant in Bohemia.