The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday accused an employee of companies affiliated with Ross Perot, a former US presidential candidate, of profiting from insider trading ahead of Dell’s $3.9bn takeover of Perot Systems just days ago.

The SEC alleged that 53-year-old Reza Saleh of Texas made $8.6m by buying options contracts in Perot Systems using non-public information. Mr Saleh is an employee of two Perot-related private companies and Perot Systems.