John Patrick Fitzgerald

Litigation Release No. 17370 / February 21, 2002

Securities And Exchange Commission v. John Patrick Fitzgerald, United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Civil Action No. 1:02-CV- 489

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it filed a civil injunctive action on February 21, 2002, in United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, against John Patrick Fitzgerald of Atlanta, Georgia.

The Commission's complaint alleges insider trading by Fitzgerald, CheckFree's vice president of financial planning and analysis. The complaint alleges that on February 2, 2000, an executive officer of CheckFree told Fitzgerald that CheckFree had agreed to merge with TransPoint, a joint venture of Microsoft Corporation, First Data Corporation, and Citibank, N.A. Between February 9, 2000, and February 15, 2000, Fitzgerald purchased a total of 5,857 shares of CheckFree stock on three separate days, including the day of the merger announcement, at an average price of $64.54 per share. On February 18, 2000, Fitzgerald sold 5,000 shares at an average price of $82.085 per share. In a little more than one week, Fitzgerald showed a gain of $102,770.87 on an investment of $377,981.69. The complaint alleges that Fitzgerald thereby violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The complaint seeks a permanent injunction, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and civil penalties.

SEC Complaint in this matter.