Sequenom Insider Accused of $366K Stock Sale Before Data Corruption Revealed

(MoneyWatch)  Steven Owings, the former vp commercial development at Sequenom (SQNM), sold 22,598 shares for a total of $365,967, on March 24, 2009, a month before the company revealed that all its data for its T21/SEQureDx Down Syndrome test was corrupted by "employee mishandling," according to a lawsuit filed in California federal court.

• Download a copy of the complaint here.

Sequenom stock dropped from a high of $27.74 down to $3.22 after the announcement and in the months that followed. The complaint states:

"Defendant Owings sales are enormous and suspiciously timed becaue he sold all of his shares mere weeks before Sequenom's April 29, 2009 press release announcing the "employee mishandling" and the subsequent delay of SEQureDx."

The suit is a shareholder derivative claim, seeking redress for Sequenom investors who lost their shirts because the company screwed up its testing of T21. While Sequenom has been sued before over this issue -- and Owings trades were noted a few days ago -- it is the first time that specific allegations of insider trading have been brought against Owings.

A response to the suit has not yet been filed by any of the defendants.

• Previously:
• Did Sequenom Insiders Sell Stock Before Data Corruption Was Revealed?
• Madness at Sequenom: Interim CEO Gets a Pay Rise; Stock Rises 18%
• Madness at Sequenom: CEO, 6 Others Ousted for Bogus Data in Down Sydrome Test