PARIS (AP) -- French stock market regulators closed a week of hearings on Friday with 17 current and former executives of Airbus parent company EADS now waiting to learn whether they will be sanctioned for allegedly making millions by profiting from the delayed A380 superjumbo project.

French stock market regulators suspect them of insider trading, enriching themselves by selling stock options worth millions of euros allegedly knowing of big production delays that sent shares plunging -- 26 percent in one day -- when made public in June 2006. Months of management troubles ensued.

France's Financial Markets Authority, or AMF, could hand out huge fines to those in the dock, a move that would prove a public embarrassment to the European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. NV, one of the continent's biggest manufacturers.

Five of those questioned in the AMF hearings, including former EADS co-president Noel Forgeard, also face judicial proceedings that could lead to a trial in court. Forgeard has insisted on his innocence.

The AMF hearings have been held behind closed doors in the building that long housed the Paris stock exchange. Only scant information has leaked out. EADS spokesman Charles-Etienne Lebatard declined to comment on the proceedings.

Any sanctions against the suspects are expected before the Christmas holiday. A person with knowledge of the case said fines would be proportional to the amount of shares sold. Forgeard, for instance, risks a fine of up to euro5.45 million ($8.2 million), according to this person, not authorized to speak publicly of the case and asking not to be identified.

In March 2006, Forgeard exercised euro2.5 million ($3.92 million at the time) worth of stock options.

The hearings turned on "enormous and very technical files," according to a person with knowledge of the proceedings.

One of Forgeard's lawyers was upbeat, saying the defense felt it "proved that his decision to (sell) his options were well before March 1, 2006." Between November 2005 and March 2006, Forgeard, his family members and other EADS executives exercised their stock options.

The defense has also cited testimony from a consultant of a firm brought in between December 2005 and June 2006 to try to resolve the A380s production problems. The consultant from the McKinsey firm, not identified by name, allegedly "affirmed he didn't know there would be a construction delay," the lawyer said.

Arriving for the hearings Monday, Forgeard told reporters he was "serene" and innocent.

Besides Forgeard, the 17 in the market regulators' probe include Jean-Paul Gut, a former deputy chief executive who oversaw strategy; chief Airbus salesman John Leahy; Andreas Sperl, director of the EADS site in Dresden, Germany; Olivier Andries, a former EADS vice president; human resources director Erik Pillet, and Alain Flourens, in charge of training centers.

EADS also is named in the case, accused of not informing the markets sooner of the problems with the A380. EADS shareholders Lagardere SCA and Daimler AG also face questioning, though the AMF's chief investigator recommended exonerating them.

The insider trading affair comes as EADS battles with Airbus rival Boeing Co. for a $35 billion Pentagon contract. EADS and partner Northrop Grumman Corp. are hoping to win the bidding to replace 179 aging Air Force refueling tankers.

Emma Vandore contributed to this report.