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MEXICO CITY -- In the latest blow to TV Azteca's financial credibility, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against Mexican businessman Moises Saba Masri for alleged price manipulation of the broadcaster's stock.

Saba is chairman of Unefon, which is owned by Ricardo Salinas Pliego's Grupo Salinas, the holding company that controls broadcaster group TV Azteca.

The SEC said Wednesday's charges relate to tactics used by Saba and New York-based Albert Sutton, VP of Middlegate Securities, to maintain artificially the price of Azteca above $5 on Aug. 20, 1999.

According to the charges, Saba would have lost more than $4 million on a short put option if Azteca share prices had dipped below $5.

"Saba and Sutton's successful manipulative scheme allowed Saba to avoid economic losses," the regulatory agency said.

Should Saba be convicted, he could be forced to repay financial gains from the alleged manipulation, as well as additional punitive fines, and could be banned from engaging in "wrongful conduct," according to the SEC.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Saba and Salinas were under investigation by the SEC and Mexico's National Banking and Securities Commission for alleged fraud related to a Unefon debt transaction last summer.

In the Unefon case, Saba and Salinas allegedly made an undisclosed profit of $218 million by serving as middlemen in the refinancing of $325 million in Unefon debt in July. No charges have been filed in the investigation.

Saba questioned the SEC's timing and denied the charges.

"I have been trading for 15 years with different stocks, and I have never been accused of any manipulation," the 46.5% owner of Unefon told the Dow Jones Wire. "Four-and-a-half years after this transaction, the SEC's reaction is very strange," he said, adding that he felt the charges were designed to put pressure on him in the Unefon case.

Saba also questioned why the charges were announced at the same time that TV Azteca and Unefon released their fourth-quarter earnings.