[ by Melanie Gretchen ] The CEO of BTG Pactual, the Brazilian investment banking powerhouse, was fined by the Italian regulators this week for insider trading.  The CEO was further sanctioned - he was ordered not to hold any board positions in Italy for 6 months. By the way, the CEO has amassed a personal fortune estimated at $3 billion and he owns nearly 1/4 of BTG Pactual, which currently is planning to raise as much as $2.24 billion in an IPO. Findings and Allegations. CEO André Esteves was fined €350,000 ($457,000) for purchasing shares in an Italian meat company in 2007, based on insider information that the company, Cremonini, was entering into a joint venture with a Brazilian rival, JBS.  Esteves conducted the trades on his personal trading account when he was working at UBS, the Italian regulator said in a statement. Esteves sold BTG Pactual to the Swiss bank for $3.1 billion in 2006.  In 2009, Esteves, along with other partners, bought back the Brazilian bank from UBS for $2.5 billion.  Since last October (2011), the bank has spent more than $1.5 billion in acquisitions.  If the high end of the IPO price range is met, the company would be worth some $20 billion, well over 3 times its book value.  BTG Pactual is the lead underwriter on the IPO, and JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, Morgan Stanley Deutsche Bank, and UBS are among the participants. Unanswered Questions. So, we're still left with the unanswered questions - most prominently:  What could have prompted Andre Esteves to illegally trade using material, non-public information?  Was so much money staked on the trades?  Did he feel he was extracting some measure of revenge against the Brazilian rival that was involved in the deal?  And, is it possible that a fine of  €350,000 can serve as a deterrent from future illegal trading? Nothing, except it does provide some funding for the cash-starved Italian government. Apparently, this story is intended to serve as a factoid.  Pieces of information that serve no useful purpose.  Let's simply file it as another of life's great mysteries. To access the referenced story:  [Dealook, 3/16/12].