[ by Howard Haykin ] The SEC on Tuesday charged a California man with illegally tipping a hedge fund manager with inside information about Nvidia Corporation’s quarterly earnings that he learned from his friend who worked at the company.  The tipper received $15K and stock tips about a pending corporate acquisition as compensated for the inside information he provided.  Lim used that inside information to make more than $11,000 in trading profits. Backgrounds on the Tipper and Relevant Persons. Hyung Lim the defendant, age 46, during the relevant period, was employed by a company that sells and designs semiconductors.  Spyridon "Sam" Adondakis, age 40, worked as an analyst at Level Global.  From 2006-2010 he resided in New York City. Anthony Chiasson, age 39, resides in New York City and was a founding partner of Level Global.  During the relevant time period, he served as the firm's director of research and the sector head of the technology, media and telecommunications sector, and also had authority to execute trades for the hedge funds managed by Level Global. SEC Findings and Allegations. Hyung Lim of Los Altos, CA, is alleged to have regularly tipped a fellow poker player, Danny Kuo, with nonpublic details ahead of Nvidia’s quarterly earnings announcements.  Kuo, a hedge fund manager, illegally traded on the information and passed it on to multi-billion dollar hedge fund advisory firms Diamondback Capital Management LLC and Level Global Investors LP. The SEC charged Kuo and the firms, among others, earlier this year as part of its widespread investigation into the trading activities of hedge funds. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a parallel action, announced on Tuesday criminal charges against Lim. In its complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, the SEC noted that Kuo and the hedge funds made nearly $16 million trading in Nvidia securities based on Lim’s inside information. Lim allegedly provided detailed information about the contents of Nvidia's upcoming quarterly earnings - ahead of the announcement - throughout at least 2009 and 2010.  Lim's friend, who worked at Nvidia, provided Lim with not just one but a series of tips, which grew more accurate and reliable as Nvidia finalized its financial results for a given quarter and prepared to report them publicly.  The information generally was provided over the phone and, within one minute after hanging up, Lim typically immediately call Kuo to relay the new nonpublic information.  Lim provided Kuo such nonpublic details as Nvidia’s calculation of its revenues, gross profit margins, and other important financial metrics before the company made those figures public in its quarterly earnings announcements.  Kuo compensated Lim the $15K and insider information. Violations and Next Steps for the SEC. Lim is charged with violating the anti-fraud provisions of U.S. securities laws and the SEC seeks to obtain an order that will disgorge Lim and his tippees of their ill-gotten gains, and will further charge these defendants with post-judgment interest as well as payment of a financial penalty, among other sanctions. SEC Staff Credits. The SEC investigation continues, investigated by Stephen Larson, Daniel Marcus, and Joseph Sansone - all with SEC’s Market Abuse Unit in New York, along with Matthew Watkins, Neil Hendelman, Diego Brucculeri, and James D’Avino of the NYRO. For further details, go to:  [SEC PR 12-176, 9/4/12] and    [Related SEC Complaint: Hyung Lim].