Deutsche Boerse CEO suffers court setback in insider trading case

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court has refused to stop proceedings against Deutsche Boerse's (DB1Gn.DE) top executive who is faced with allegations of insider trading over share purchases.

Carsten Kengeter, who denies any wrongdoing and is cooperating with authorities, made share purchases shortly before formal merger talks with London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) were announced and triggered a sharp rise in Deutsche Boerse's shares.

Deutsche Boerse last month agreed to pay 10.5 million euros (9.34 million pounds) of fines to draw a line under the allegations, with Kengeter himself offering to pay 500,000 euros under a personal settlement.

"In light of the significance of the proceedings the court considers it appropriate to continue the investigation proceedings at this time," Deutsche Boerse said.

The Frankfurt court has returned the matter, involving the proceedings against Kengeter as well as potential actions against Deutsche Boerse, to public prosecutors, the company said.

Further investigation could lead to a closure of proceedings due to lack of adequate evidence or to an indictment, Deutsche Boerse said.

Neither the Frankfurt court nor the prosecutor's office were available for comment late on Monday.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer and Andreas Framke, editing by David Evans)