Acacia Research Patent Company Fires Top Lawyer After SEC Fine

Acacia Research Corp. terminated the employment of general counsel Meredith Simmons after less than five months on the job, the company recently disclosed.

The move, disclosed in a Tuesday securities filing by Acacia, comes after Simmons agreed in September to pay $25,000 in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC accused Simmons of backdating and withholding records in an insider trading inquiry of her former employer, hedge fund Mason Capital Management LLC.

A spokesman for Acacia, an Irvine, Calif.-based patent licensing and monetization company, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did Simmons, who currently ...