The SEC has obtained a court-ordered freeze of the assets of six Chinese citizens and one British Virgin Islands entity charged with insider trading in Zhongpin Inc., a China-based pork processor whose shares trade in the U.S. The SEC’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago on April 4, alleges the defendants reaped more than $9M by trading in Zhongpin ahead of a March 27 announcement of a proposal to take the company private. The SEC alleges that the defendants violated federal anti-fraud laws, namely Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. In addition to the emergency relief, the SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, and financial penalties.