BANGOR – Two more former employees of Central Maine Power Co. on Monday settled with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly engaging in insider stock trading.

Robert K. Gasper of Manchester and James D. Fairfield of Gardner are the latest CMP employees to be charged by the federal agency for each profiting by more than $80,000 from inside information on CMP’s $957 million merger with Energy East Corp. According to the SEC, Gasper and Fairfield transferred their 401(k) assets to the CMP stock fund before the New York Stock Exchange closed on June 14, one day before the merger was announced.

On June 15, CMP’s stock rose about 28 percent. Gasper, who invested $336,528, illegally made $88,604, according to the SEC. Fairfield, who invested $304,556, illegally made $80,186.

In February, the SEC filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Bangor that alleged that then-CMP financial analyst David M. Brooks also engaged in insider trading. The federal agency claimed Brooks made $21,000 with his investment.

Brooks, who denies having done anything illegal, resigned his position at CMP on Feb. 8, the day the SEC began its court proceedings against him. That action still is pending.It is unclear whether Gasper and Fairfield willingly left their jobs at the Augusta-based utility or were fired last summer. Gasper was manager of interconnection agreements administration, while Fairfield was manager of legislative affairs.

When reached by phone Monday, both Gasper and Fairfield said that under their agreement with the SEC they could not comment. They consented to an “entry of judgement” without admitting or denying the commission’s allegations, according to the SEC.

CMP director of communications Mark Ishkanian did not return a telephone call for comment.

The SEC’s complaints – and subsequent settlements – against Gasper and Fairfield were filed in U.S. District Court in Bangor and await a judge’s signature sometime this week.

Speculation that CMP was merging circulated for months before then-utility president David Flanagan announced it at a press conference on June 15, 1999. But the information acted upon first by Gasper and later by Fairfield was more specific than that printed in newspapers and discussed among those people in the energy market, said David Marder, assistant district administrator for the SEC in Boston.

“We’re not claiming there’s no speculation out there,” said Marder of the rumors. “When the manager said, ‘there’s a meeting at 4:01 p.m. and I can’t tell you what it’s about,’ that was enough to put him [Gasper] on notice. “He had access to more information than investors on the street did,” he said.

Marder said that on June 14, 1999, Gasper had four pieces of nonpublic information that tipped him off that the merger was going to be announced to the financial markets the next morning. Those pieces were the following: he was asked by his supervisor to attend a staff meeting at 4:01 p.m., one minute after the markets closed; he was not told what the meeting would be about; he was given short notice about the meeting; and the meeting took place after the CMP offices were closed for the day.

“After learning of the meeting, Gasper concluded that a buyout announcement was imminent and executed his trade,” Marder said in a statement. Fairfield, a few minutes later, called Gasper, and Gasper told him he believed the merger was going to be announced, Marder said.

“At that point, Fairfield decided to jump in,” he said.According to the complaint, Gasper’s speculation began more than a month before the deal actually happened.

“Gasper was asked to retrieve information for a ‘top secret’ project and, by his own admission, correctly concluded that someone was ‘looking at the company,'” according to a statement by the SEC.

Under their agreement with the SEC, both of the former employees were required to give up their trading profits. Gasper, because he tipped Fairfield, agreed to pay $168,790 – the total of both his and Fairfield’s profits – plus $17,109 in prejudgement interest.

Marder said that because of Gasper’s financial inability to pay, all but $65,000 of the total amount was waived.

Fairfield agreed to give up $80,186, representing his profits, plus $8,128 in interest.

Because of Fairfield’s inability to pay, all but $30,000 of the total amount was waived, Marder said.

“There’s no reason to chase after people who don’t have the ability to repay,” he said.

Whether the SEC is investigating other CMP employees is not known.

“Our investigations are nonpublic,” Marder said. “I can’t tell you if other employees will be sued.”