The Commission alleges that Whittier Trust, along with fund manager Victor Dosti, took part in insider trading based on non-public information regarding Dell, Nvidia Corporation and Wind River Systems – all three of which are technology firms.

Dosti allegedly generated profits and avoided losses by using confidential information he obtained from Danny Kuo, a Whittier Trust fund manager he supervised. Kuo was charged by the SEC in January 2012 and is cooperating with the investigation, the authority said.

The trading of Dell and Nvidia stock took place ahead of five quarterly earnings announcements in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Based on non-public information from employees at these firms, Dosti allegedly made gains of $475,000 for Whittier Trust funds.

The trading of Wind River stock was based on information from an Intel employee about confidential acquisition negotiations between the two firms, and netted Dosti $247,000 in illicit profits for Whittier Trust.

Whittier Trust and Dosti agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to settle the charges.

The charges relate to an insider trading ring that the SEC has been investigating for some time, and in September 2012 the organization charged Hyung Lim with providing Whittier hedge fund manager Kuo with non-public information ahead of Nvidia’s quarterly earnings announcements. In return, Lim got $15,000 and stock tips about an impending acquisition at another firm, the Commission says.

Meanwhile, Kuo allegedly passed on the tips to the multi-billion dollar hedge fund firms Diamondback Capital Management and Level Global Investors, both of which were also charged last year along with Kuo.

In January Diamondback, which is based in Stamford, CT, agreed to pay over $9 million to settle the insider-trading charges.

In May, Greenwich, CT-based Level Global Investors agreed to pay over $21.5 million to settle charges brought by the SEC.