The Alberta Securities Commission has fined a woman $400,000 for insider trading after she purchased nearly $350,000 in shares of Leucrotta Exploration Inc. just before her employer, Vermilion Energy Inc., entered an agreement to acquire it.

According to the agreed statement of facts, Behjat Haghshenas, who was employed as a senior reservoir specialist for Vermilion at the time, was working on the deal between her company and Leucrotta in March 2022.

Shortly before the deal was completed, Haghshenas used her partner’s account to buy 265,000 Leucrotta shares worth about $349,150.

The $500-million deal between the two energy firms was announced on March 28, 2022. That same day, Haghshenas sold all her Leucrotta shares before trading, earning about $146,400 in profit.

In addition to the fine, Haghshenas has been banned from trading securities and derivatives for 10 years, with the exception of a single RRSP and TFSA account in her own name.

According to the statement of facts, Haghshenas was employed by Vermilion until at least June 2023, most recently as a senior reservoir engineer, a role she took on as of September 2022.

BNNBloomberg.ca has reached out to Vermilion for comment.