George Holley, former chief executive officer and chairman of Home Diagnostics Inc., pleaded guilty during his trial on insider-trading charges. Holley, 72, pleaded guilty today to two counts of securities fraud in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, where prosecutors rested their case yesterday. Holley hadn’t begun his defense case when he ended the trial in the eighth day. Holley admitted he tipped his cousin and a friend that Osaka, Japan-based Nipro Corp. (8086), a maker of medical equipment, would buy his company. He “told them to buy Home Diagnostics stock just three weeks before the merger was publicly announced,” U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement.
