An Italian engineer, who allegedly reaped more than $2.1m in profits ahead of this week’s merger deal by Finmeccanica, the defence contractor, has been charged by US regulators for insider trading.

Cristian De Colli, a resident of Rome, allegedly bought shares and call options of DRS Technologies – a supplier to the US military being acquired by Italy’s Finmeccanica – while in possession of “material, non-public information,” the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil complaint filed in New York.