US OFFICIALS are investigating claims the son of a Belgian fashion designer and a Swiss born aristocrat used insider information to profit off of Microsoft's $68.7bn (£52.4bn) acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The probe comes after Activision chief executive Bobby Kotick met trader Alexander von Furstenberg on 14 January, four days before Microsoft said it would purchase the games developer for $95 per share.

After the meeting, von Furstenberg purchased options in Activision for $40 per share.

The trader made around $60m after buying $108m worth of the Call of Duty developer's shares.

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