Former Angel star Doug DeCinces testifies in insider-trading trial that he made “a huge mistake”
Summary
SANTA ANA – Faced with more than $1 million in stock-market profit tied to a merger involving a company owned by a close friend, former Angel star Doug DeCinces testified Wednesday that all he could think about was having made a huge mistake. DeCinces, 67, during his first full day of testimony in the federal insider-trading trial of Laguna Beach neighbor James Mazzo, admitted to receiving insider information about a pending buyout of a medical-device company that Mazzo owned – information that the ex-ballplayer said he used to garner an estimated $1.3 million in stock-market profit for himself, as well as an additional $1.3 million for friends and his family. DeCinces last year was convicted of insider trading for a series of stock purchases tied to Santa Ana-based Advanced Medical Optics in the weeks before it was bought out by larger Abbott Laboratories. “He paused a little bit and then said, ‘I have something I want to discuss with you, but you have to keep it between you and I,’ ” DeCinces described Mazzo as telling him on the way to a hockey game before informing of him of the merger talks. “You had every chance to unburden yourself by going to the prosecutors and releasing the burden you say you were carrying,” Marmaro said, pointing to the eight years leading up to DeCinces’ trial.