Saturday, November 20, 2010

Feds prepare massive prosecution of insider trading on Wall Street

NEW YORK — U.S. officials are preparing insider trading charges against a host of financial players, including investment bankers and hedge fund managers, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter.

The charges could surpass any previous investigations on Wall Street, and examine whether certain players garnered tens of millions of dollars in illegal profits, according to the newspaper.

The three-year investigation could expose "a culture of pervasive insider trading in U.S. financial markets", especially in ways private information is transmitted to traders through connected insiders, the newspaper said, citing federal authorities.

While the scope of the investigation is unclear it is said to focus on the use of so-called expert network firms, businesses that command big fees from hedge funds to match them up with experts in particular industries.

There has been concern for years that some experts may be passing on confidential information about public companies to traders.
Read the rest here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My understanding is that insider trading is the norm, not the exception. That is, they only go after people when it is an egregious enough offense that it demands a law enforcement response.

Good to see this anyway.

Anonymous said...

Very encouraging. This administration had better move quickly before the Republicans regain enough power to reinstitute the rape of the economy by wall street.

James said...

Meanwhile the debauchers of currency retain their offices.