U.S. regulators on Wednesday filed civil charges for insider trading against 11 people, including a 26-year-old former Goldman Sachs Group Inc investment banking analyst accused of leaking confidential merger information to his brother.

The charges involve two separate trading rings, one involving confidential information that regulators say was leaked ahead of an announcement last year that Liberty Mutual Insurance Company would acquire Safeco Corp.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Anthony Perez, of Maitland, Florida, illegally tipped his brother, Ian, with material nonpublic information that he learned from his Goldman investment banking job about the potential acquisition of Safeco in April 2008.

Ian Perez traded Safeco call options and made more than $150,000, the SEC said.

The SEC said the Perez brothers have agreed to settle the case without admitting or denying the allegations. Anthony Perez will pay a penalty of $25,000 and Ian Perez agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling $152,992.

Their lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.

Three other individuals also were charged with trading improperly ahead of the Safeco acquisition in separate civil lawsuits.

The SEC said it also brought civil charges against six other people accused of illicitly trading ahead of private equity firm Odyssey Investment Partners LLC's 2005 announcement that it would acquire Neff Corp, a Miami-based rental equipment company.

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