Dean Foods ex-chairman said to be probed for insider-trading

Tom C. Davis, the former chairman of Dallas-based Dean Foods who resigned without explanation last week, is under investigation by federal authorities as part of an insider-trading probe that involves pro golfer Phil Mickelson, a person familiar with the matter said.

Davis is cooperating with the Securities and Exchange Commission, his lawyer Tom Melsheimer said in an e-mail. The FBI is also looking into the matter, according to the person, who requested anonymity because it isn’t public.

The two agencies and prosecutors in New York were reviewing Dean Foods trades made in 2012 by Las Vegas gambler William “Billy” Walters and golfer Phil Mickelson, a second person familiar with the matter said in June of last year. The SEC, FBI and the office of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara declined to comment on whether Davis is being investigated.

Davis “has no knowledge of any material, non-public information about Dean Foods Co. being communicated to Mr. Walters by anyone, at any time,” Melsheimer said Thursday.

Walters and Mickelson haven’t been accused of wrongdoing.

The golfer has denied the allegations, and an attorney for Walters, Barry Langberg, said last year his client “was not involved in any insider trading.”

Langberg declined further comment when reached Thursday. T.R. Reinman, a spokesman for Lagardere Unlimited, the agency representing Mickelson, didn’t immediately return a call.

Shares of Dean Foods, the largest U.S. milk processor, fell Monday after the company announced Davis’s departure.

“Dean Foods has cooperated with the government’s requests for information and will continue to do so,” the company said in a statement. “Because there is an ongoing government investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported the probe.

This story was originally published August 13, 2015 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Dean Foods ex-chairman said to be probed for insider-trading."