Two French citizens have been charged by U.S. regulators with using inside information to buy securities of Chattem Inc. before Sanofi-Aventis said it would buy the healthcare group.

The Securities and Exchange Commission suit filed Tuesday alleges that Gilles Roger and Nicolas Condroyer bought hundreds of option contracts for stock in Chattem while knowing information about the Sanofi-Aventis deal.

The SEC said Roger and Condroyer are French citizens who reside in Belgium.

When the $1.9 billion acquisition was announced December 21, Roger and Condroyer sold all their options and made about $4.2 million in illegal profits, the SEC alleged in its complaint filed in federal court in Atlanta.

The SEC said it had obtained an emergency court order to freeze the men's assets and prohibit them from destroying the evidence.