A businessman and his wife from China reached agreement for the settlement of insider trading charges for $3.3 million in an investigation by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into the takeover of Nexen of Canada.

SEC said in a statement that Ren Feng and his wife Zeng Huiy purchased shares in Nexen with knowledge that the energy firm already agreed on its acquisition by state-owned energy firm Cnooc in July last year, which is said the largest transaction in China.

Shares in Nexen increased by almost 52% on the announcement, however, SEC then got an court order for the freeze of several trading accounts after discovering that shares had suspicious activities.