Federal prosecutors said Monday that one of the people who led the failed bid to acquire Portland's largest tech company will face insider-trading charges connected to the deal.

Benjamin Chow founded Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, a Chinese-backed investment firm that offered $1.3 billion for Lattice Semiconductor Corp. last year. The deal lingered for nearly a year before President Donald Trump rejected it last month, ruling that Chinese investment in an American chip company posed a national security risk.

On Monday, federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York charged Chow, 46, with securities fraud connected to a $5 million insider-trading scheme related to the deal. Prosecutors said Chow gave a friend advance notice of potential Canyon Bridge acquisitions, including the Lattice bid.

"Chow's illegal tips resulted in multimillion-dollar profits for his friend and business associate. This type of alleged illegal tipping is not only illegal, but erodes public confidence in our markets," acting U.S. attorney Joon Kim said in a written statement.

Prosecutors said Chow faces 14 charges in the case, with maximum sentences between five and 25 years apiece and a potential fine of up to $5 million. He lives in Los Angeles.

In a statement to Reuters, an attorney for Chow called the charges "baseless and unprecedented. He is not alleged to have made a dime from the scheme, and he had no possible motive to enrich those who traded."

Lattice makes programmable computer chips used in smartphones and other consumer gadgets, telecom networking gear, and industrial equipment.

Canyon Bridge offered $8.30 a share for Lattice. The Portland company invested nearly a year trying to close the transaction but investors always considered it an extreme longshot because of the national security implications, and Lattice's share price never approached Canyon Bridge's offer.

Lattice shares closed Monday at $5.91, below the $6.37 where it was trading before it agreed to sell to Canyon Bridge in November 2016.

Canyon Bridge is currently trying to buy a British chipmaker, Imagination Technologies, and the firm said Monday that bid will go ahead despite the indictment.

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699