The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the circumstances around Eastman Kodak Co.’s announcement of a $765 million government loan to make drugs at its U.S. factories, the Wall Street Journal reported. News of the loan last week caused Kodak’s shares to rise as high as $60, before falling to about $15 on Monday due to a dilution in the shares. Amid the heightened volatility, trading volume has surged. The price spike briefly produced a potential windfall for company executives who owned stock-option grants, some of which were granted on July 27, the day before the loan was officially announced. Among the areas being probed by regulators: how Kodak controlled disclosure of the loan, word of which began to emerge on July 27, causing Kodak’s stock price to rise 25 percent that day.
