Suspicion falls on Time Warner man

A NEW biography of the late Time Warner chief executive Steve Ross says the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating his long-time adviser, Oded Aboodi, for possible involvement in insider dealing in the company's shares.

Mr Aboodi's role as both an employee of the media conglomerate and its outside investment banker was the subject of much controversy during the 1989 merger of Mr Ross's Warner Communication and Time Inc. Soon after Mr Ross's death in 1992, his successor, Gerald Levin, altered Time Warner's relationship with Mr Aboodi, retaining him as a consultant but removing his right to a salary, employee benefits and share options.

The book, by the respected New Yorker magazine writer Connie Bruck, says the investigation began in 1992 after Mr Aboodi's son David, trading for the family account, made a 'propitiously' timed trade in the company's shares.

Time Warner and the SEC refused to comment on the allegations yesterday, and no members of the Aboodi family could be reached for comment.