(Reuters) – A U.S. market regulator is for now dropping insider trading cases against three Swiss asset managers, despite accusations that two of the defendants improperly thwarted its investigation, including by throwing out a BlackBerry.

In papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Compania Internacional Financiera SA and Coudree Capital Gestion SA had "repeatedly failed" to cooperate in providing evidence.

The agency wants to end the cases but is seeking permission to pursue them if new information comes to light, according to the court papers filed late Friday.

Separately, the SEC said it will dismiss its claims against the third defendant, Chartwell Asset Management Services. All of the dismissals require court approval.

The SEC had accused the defendants of improperly reaping millions of dollars in buying 1.04 million shares of Arch Chemicals Inc before the Norwalk, Connecticut-based company agreed to a $1.2 billion buyout on July 11, 2011.

Arch shares rose 21.4 percent in the week before Switzerland's Lonza Group AG (LONN.VX) agreed to buy Arch for $47.20 per share, a 12 percent premium. The defendants then began selling their Arch shares, the SEC had alleged. Lonza completed the purchase in October.

According to the SEC, Yomi Rodrig, a Turkish national who controls Compania and Coudree, discarded his BlackBerry last August 11 even as his firms were responding to SEC document requests.

"Rodrig's BlackBerry may have contained text messages regarding his trading in Arch as well as his 'contact list' — all of which constitutes relevant and discoverable evidence now likely impossible to recover," SEC lawyer Rua Kelly wrote.

Compania and Coudree have said previously their trades were legitimate.

The SEC said in the court papers that the two companies' failure to cooperate, and the difficulty of gathering evidence, give it "good cause" to dismiss its case against them for now.

"Many of the relevant documents and witnesses are located in foreign jurisdictions," SEC spokesman John Nester said. "The dismissal without prejudice will allow us to continue our investigation without the limitation of a court deadline."

Ira Lee Sorkin, a lawyer representing Compania and Coudree, declined to comment on the SEC request. He said he plans to file papers in the case on Tuesday.

Compania and Rodrig in 2005 agreed to pay $6.32 million to settle an SEC lawsuit accusing them of violating rules to bar short sales of stock just before that stock begins trading. Neither admitted wrongdoing.

In seeking to end its case against Chartwell, the SEC also agreed to lift an asset freeze imposed last July, Chartwell said. Compania's and Coudree's assets had also been frozen.

"Chartwell did nothing wrong," managing director Vincent de Canniere said in a statement.

The case is SEC v. Compania Internacional Financiera SA et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-04904.

(Reporting By Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Bernard Orr and Tim Dobbyn)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. market regulators charged a former employee of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd with making $63,000 in illegal profits on inside information about the company's 2008 agreement to acquire Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc.

The former U.S.-based employee, Brent Bankosky, has partially settled the civil lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, his lawyer said. The lawsuit was made public on Thursday.

In the complaint filed in federal court in New York, the SEC said Bankosky, 41, used the inside information to trade in his personal account. Bankosky bought call options in securities of Takeda's strategic partner, biotechnology company Cell Genesys, and Millennium, the complaint said.

Through these trades, Bankosky reaped more than $63,000 in profits on an initial investment of $37,000, the SEC said. The company, which has its headquarters in Osaka, Japan, was not a defendant in the case. A spokeswoman for the company in Deerfield, Michigan, could not immediately be reached to comment.

Bankosky's lawyer, Robert Heim, said his client partially settled the matter without admitting or denying the allegations. He has agreed to pay more than $130,000 in disgorgement and penalties, Heim said. He said Bankosky is contesting a SEC ban on his holding a position of company officer or director.

Bankosky had held the title of director of Takeda's global licensing and business development unit in Deerfield, Illinois. In September 2010, he became a senior director, which is not a board position, his lawyers said. Bankosky resigned in May 2011.

The strategic alliance between Takeda and Cell Genesys was announced after the market closed on March 31, 2008 and the agreement for a deal was announced 10 days later, the court document said.

The SEC said that Bankosky again breached his duty to his employer and shareholders by buying call options in the securities of Arena Pharmaceutical Inc and AMAG Pharmaceutical Inc. The two companies were engaged in confidential discussions with Takeda in 2009 and 2010 respectively, the complaint said. Bankosky did not profit from those trades, the SEC said.

The case is SEC v Brent Bankosky, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 12-1012.

(Reporting By Grant McCool; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)