Ex-O.C. Exec Convicted of Insider Trading

Richard J. Smith, formerly a vice president at PDA Engineering Inc. in Costa Mesa, was convicted by a federal jury of 11 counts of insider trading. Smith was found guilty of avoiding losses and profiting through so-called “short” sales of PDA stock after he gained inside knowledge that the company’s sales would fall short of projections, federal prosecutors said. Smith, 48, and his parents sold short a combined 47,000 shares of PDA stock in 1993, shortly before the price of the stock plunged after an announcement that the company’s revenue was “below forecast.” He is scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Feb. 3 and faces a minimum sentence of 18 months in prison. Smith left PDA in 1994. That year, PDA was purchased by MacNeal Schwendler Corp. of Pasadena.