Potential Kodak deal paused until ‘allegations are cleared’

NEW YORK: A government agency said a potential deal to have Eastman Kodak help make generic drugs is being paused until allegations of insider trading at the once mighty photography company are cleared.

“Recent allegations of wrongdoing raise serious concerns,” said the United States International Development Finance Corporation in a tweet late Friday. “We will not proceed any further unless these allegations are cleared.”

The International Development Finance Corporation did not respond for a request for comment Saturday.

Kodak, which is based in Rochester, New York, declined to comment.

Last month, the International Development Finance Corporation signed a letter of intent to potentially give Kodak a $765 million loan to help pay for factory changes needed to make pharmaceutical ingredients in short supply in the U.S.

News of the potential deal sent the company’s stock price surging.

But last week, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren asked the Securities and Exchange

Commission (SEC) to investigate whether insider trading laws had been broken, citing “unusual trading activity” before the deal was announced.

The SEC is now in the early stages of a probe, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited anonymous sources. The

SEC has declined to comment on the report.

On Friday, Kodak announced it was conducting an internal review related to the loan deal.

The loan, which hasn’t been finalized, was expected to be used to expand plants in Rochester and St. Paul, Minnesota.