Federal authorities in Minnesota are alleging in criminal and civil cases that three Twin Cities businessmen and friends acted on an illegal tip and made insider securities trades involving medical device giant Medtronic's purchase of Mazor Robotics. The men made hundreds of thousands of dollars in barely a month's time.

The federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday sued former Medtronic consultant Doron A. Tavlin, rug retailer Afshin Farahan and insurance agent David Gantman. The regulatory agency is asking the court to compel the men to "disgorge all funds received from their illegal conduct" with interest and to be subject to civil penalties.

Parallel felony criminal proceedings against the men, filed last week in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, include 16 counts of aiding and abetting securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.

Tavlin's attorneys, Matt Forsgren and David Wallace-Jackson, released a statement late Thursday that read: "The government seems to have drawn every conceivable inference against Mr. Tavlin. Mr. Tavlin looks forward to telling his side of the story at the appropriate time."

Messages were left Thursday with attorneys for Farahan, 55, of Pacific Palisades, Calif., and Gantman, 56, of Mendota Heights. Gantman's attorney declined comment.

The criminal and civil cases claim that in August 2018, about 10 months after ending his work for Medtronic but while also a Mazor executive, Tavlin used his involvement in Medtronic's pursuit of Mazor to relay a tip to longtime friend Farahan about the looming acquisition. Mazor was an Israeli maker of a robotics system for spine surgery.

Tavlin, 67, of Minneapolis, "encouraged Farahan to buy Mazor securities quickly and to invest money on Tavlin's behalf," the SEC's suit read.

Farahan, in turn, relayed the same inside information to Gantman. "Over the next several weeks, Farahan and Gantman made multiple purchases of Mazor securities, including stock and [riskier] call options," the suit continued.

Soon after Medtronic's purchase of Mazor Robotics was announced on Sept. 21, 2018, sending Mazor stock sharply higher, Farahan sold the more than $1 million in stock he bought over the previous several weeks and netted more than $245,000.

Gantman also sold his securities quickly after the deal was publicized and came out with $255,000 in profit, the prosecutors are contending.

About a year later, Farahan paid Tavlin a $25,000 kickback for the tip, the SEC and federal prosecutors alleged.