How a bet on General Electric deal reaped $23 million and a criminal probe

The criminal probe is looking at suspicious trading over several years in more than ten stocks - from Natixis SA to telecom operator Bouygues SA

French investigators suspect an investor illegally made $23 million from just one bet after getting a tip-off in 2014 about General Electric’s  plan to buy part of Alstom SA.
 
The transaction — using derivatives — is one of several possible instances of insider-trading involving 38-year-old Frenchman Alexis Kuperfis that are under examination by criminal investigators, according to details contained in a ruling by the nation’s top court last month.
 
While the Alstom bet was the biggest win over a nine-month period, the previously unreported ruling reveals that French investigators also have suspicions concerning nearly 4 million euros that they say Kuperfis made during that time through trading on four other securities, including French cement company Lafarge SA.
 
The top court ruling provides a window into a sprawling French insider-trading investigation involving numerous other people and securities. Overall, the wider criminal probe is looking at suspicious trading over several years in more than ten stocks — from Natixis SA to telecom operator Bouygues SA.

 
About half a dozen men, including Kuperfis, have already been charged so far in relation to just one part, focusing on insider trading ahead of Air Liquide SA’s $13.2 bn takeover of Airgas Inc., according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
 
There is little publicly available information about Kuperfis apart from the fact that he was a Swiss resident when he sued unsuccessfully to protest evidence-gathering raids targeting him.
 
Loic Henriot, a lawyer for the Frenchman, said his client hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing over the GE-Alstom deal. Neither GE nor Alstom are mentioned as having any involvement in the suspected wrongdoing.