Daily Pulse

FBI nabs 7 for insider trading

Kerry Donahue Jan 18, 2012

The Feds continued their crackdown on Wall Street fraud Wednesday, announcing they had arrested four people – including two senior hedge fund managers – on charges of insider trading.

Charges were filed against seven investors for engaging in a scheme to provide each other with inside information about two publically traded companies: computer maker Dell and chip maker NVIDIA. Using hundreds of wiretaps, the FBI charged that one of the schemes netted more than $61.8 million in illegal profits and helped one of the investment firms avoided $78,000 in losses, according to a press release.

Four arrests were made; the three others are cooperating with the investigation. The arrests took place in Boston, New York and California.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called it “a stunning portrait of organized corruption on a broad scale.”

The FBI says it has arrested more than 60 people as part of its so-called “Operation Perfect Hedge,” adding that “this initiative is far from over.” News that the Feds continue to mount pressure on the dark side of Wall Street has the Marketplace Daily Pulse up today.

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