The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have imposed a fine on Wells Fargo investment banker John Femenia and nine others in the insider trading case.

The fined persons are accused to earning more than $11 million in illegal profits by using confidential information regarding some impending mergers. The complaint filed with the US court for the Western District of North Carolina accuses Femenia of abusing his position at Wells Fargo Securities, which is the biggest US home lender, to access confidential information about four separate mergers.

The confidential information was passed on to his friends who used it to illegally trade and earn profits. The market regulator has also charged two firms Coram Real Estate Holdings and GoldStar for being involved in the insider trading scam involving the banker and others.

The SEC's complaint also said that the some members also offered a portion of the illegitimacy earned profits to Femenia and others in exchange for information that is linked to the companies. Femenia worked for Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina and then in New York, where most of the activity took place.

The SEC now has the permission to freeze the assets of the illegal traders involved in the case.