Over a year after the federal authorities raided hedge funds, the FBI has arrested three men as part of its insider trading investigation, including a Manhattan resident who wasn't home when they went to his home this morning. more ›

Danielle Chiesi, a former beauty queen who became a hedge fund trader, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for her role in a multi-million-dollar insider trading scheme. Chiesi, who once said insider trading was "like an orgasm," will also have to serve two years of supervised release and 250 hours of community service, plus pay a $25,000 fine. It was under the recommended 37-to-47-month sentence from prosecutors, so maybe that's why she was smiling outside court. more ›

When an inside trading scandal is as puny as the one against Winnie "The Poohster" Jiau (hedge funds paid her $200K for tips, which is how much Lloyd Blankfein's iPad case cost) it's only natural to seize on the more titillating aspects of the case, like how a witness against her somehow testified about his bad mushroom trip. Totally told you to stay away from those purple ones bro! more ›

The Post reported this morning that billionaire hedge funder Steven Cohen is the frontrunner to buy the Mets; it seems like the team leaked the info out purposefully to gauge reaction to his status as the "preferred bidder." But seeing as how this is the Mets, you know nothing can go right...because the Wall Street Journal reports that Cohen is also being investigated by federal prosecutors for possible insider trading. The Mets truly are the Rodney Dangerfields of professional sports. more ›

In a victory for President Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, The Wall Street Journal reports that an insider trading scam that grossed $32 million and spanned 17 years was broken up by the FBI yesterday. Sure, $32 million represents 18% of Bernie Madoff's diamond-encrusted bidet budget. But it should be noted that the two men involved did an excellent job of staying under the radar, "with tradecraft of which Gordon Gecko would have been proud" gushed one FBI agent who just started subscribing to Netflix Instant. more ›

Yesterday, the trial of Raj Rajaratnam, a hedge fund founder accused of a huge insider trading ring (how huge? well, he's out on $100 million bail), began yesterday, The federal prosecutor declared, "Greed and corruption — that’s what this case is all about," while Rajaratnam's defense said, "The government has it wrong." But who are the people who have to listen to dense financial jargon for weeks, if not months? Well, you can bet at least some are Oprah Winfrey fans. more ›

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has announced along with the FBI that portfolio managers Samir Barai, 39, and Donald Longueuil, 34 have been charged with conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud for their involvement in an insider trading scheme. Two other research analysts have plead guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud for their roles in the massive scheme, which Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara describes as "a brazen cover-up... like something out of a bad movie." (Ironically, that line is like something out of a bad movie.) more ›

Federal agents made five arrests related to the big insider trading probe in whether nonpublic information is being leaked from corporations to hedge funds and investors through so-called expert networks. Four were consultants for expert network firm Primary Global Research while a fifth was a sales executive at the firm. FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Janice Fedarcyk said, "The information trafficked by the four 'consultants' went way beyond permissible market research. It was insider information." more ›

The federal authorities have made their first arrest in the wide-ranging insider trading probe: Don Ching Trang Chu, an executive at "expert network" research firm Primary Global Research, was arrested the company's California office. Chu, who resides in Somerset, NJ, had been planning to go to Taiwan on Sunday, and the Wall Street Journal reports, "Mr. Chu has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and fraud in connection with securities. The first count carries a maximum sentence of five years and the second up to 25 years. Both carry a potential fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, prosecutors said." more ›

The Wall Street Journal reports, "Money managers SAC Capital Advisors, Janus Capital Group Inc. and Wellington Management Co. have received inquiries in the ongoing insider-trading investigation on Wall Street." Yesterday, the FBI raided three hedge funds—two of which are run by former SAC managers—as part of the government's insider trading crackdown. A securities law professor at Columbia told Bloomberg News, "[The feds] appear to have an interest in some of the traders who used to work at SAC Capital. Those traders that the government seems to be pursuing have to make a quick decision about whether they’re going to cooperate or whether they’re going to fight. They will get greater leniency if they give the government bigger fish." more ›

As if Saturday's Wall Street Journal article about how the feds are readying insider trading charges (which "could ensnare consultants, investment bankers, hedge-fund and mutual-fund traders, and analysts across the nation") wasn't warning enough! Today, the FBI raided three hedge funds—the Connecticut offices of Diamondback Capital Management LLC and Level Global Investors LP and Boston-based Loch Capital Management LLC. The FBI simply said, "The FBI is executing court-authorized search warrants in an ongoing investigation." more ›

Wall Street is worried about the federal authorities' three-year probe that could result in widespread insider trading charge that, according to the Wall Street Journal, "could ensnare consultants, investment bankers, hedge-fund and mutual-fund traders, and analysts across the nation." The probes, "which authorities say could eclipse the impact on the financial industry of any previous such investigation...have the potential to expose a culture of pervasive insider trading in U.S. financial markets, including new ways non-public information is passed to traders through experts tied to specific industries or companies, federal authorities say." more ›

A failed coffee shop owner and his Disney secretary girlfriend have been hit with conspiracy and wire fraud charges after their dopey attempt at insider trading blew up in their faces. Up until Tuesday, Bonnie Hoxie, 33, worked as an assistant to Disney's head of corporate communications. According to prosecutors, she was confident she could obtain access to Disney's (DIS) quarterly earning report before it was publicly released, and so her boyfriend, Yonni Sebbag, 29, came up with an ingenious plan: email 33 hedge funds with the hot tip that, "I am willing to share this information for a fee... I count on your discretion as you can count on mine." But these treacherous traders weren't discreet, and instead ratted them out to the Feds! more ›

One of the many involved a massive insider trading ring was sentenced yesterday, and U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said of hedge fund co-founder Mark Kurland, "He had a choice as a leader of the financial industry. He could have led by example. Instead, he chose to follow. He became a joiner, surrendering to the spree of the financial market's virtual mob mentality that nearly brought down this country's financial industry in the quest for ever bigger and faster gains." Kurland pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud and will serve two years and three months, plus must forfeit $900,000 he made; he said he was heartbroken and his actions "destroyed my reputation and everything I have worked hard for my entire life." more ›

Daily Intel noticed how Robert Moffatt, the IBM executive arrested in the insider trading ring with Galleon Group head Raj Rajaratnam, seems like a fun guy. According to Bloomberg News, Moffatt, once in line to be future IBM CEO, Moffatt would start meetings with "This Day in History" trivia and utilized costumes to boost morale: "He once told workers in the Raleigh office that if the division turned a profit in one quarter, he would wear a kilt at a company event. When it did, he kept his promise. He once dressed up in a sumo-wrestler suit at a conference." more ›

To no one's surprise, traders at the Galleon Group have been working on their resumes and calling their lawyers, after the hedge fund's founder Raj Rajaratnam was arrested on insider trading charges last week. However, he was in the office yesterday (out on $100 million bail) and also offered a letter to employees, friends and clients: "As I am sure you understand, I am not able to respond in detail to the charges recently brought against me. But let me be clear: they are, without exception, entirely baseless. I am innocent and will vigorously defend myself and our firm." more ›

The upside of being a billionaire when you're accused of insider trading? You can post the $100 million bail! Hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, who was arrested on Friday after feds said he and five others shared inside information and tips to make $20 million, posted the bail on Saturday. The NY Times says that he's expected to be at his hedge fund's offices today to address his employees. more ›

A hedge fund founder and five other people were arrested in what the federal authorities say is the "biggest insider trading scheme ever involving a hedge fund" (NY Times) and the "biggest insider-trading ring in a generation" (Wall Street Journal). Those involved allegedly made $20 million on inside information about stocks like Hilton, IBM, Google and Advanced Micro Devices. more ›

For better and for insider trading secrets: The Lehman Brothers trader arrested after it was discovered he was feeding friends and clients tips about upcoming mergers apparently got his information from his wife—not that she knew it. Matthew Devlin would "monitor" his wifee's travel, since she worked for a PR firm that handled press for "high profile mergers and acquisitions," and figured out what deals were happening. Devlin told one friend who benefited from tips and who was dating a Playboy playmate, "[Your girlfriend] may be amazing at some things, but none of them are like the golden goose"—as in his wife Nina (pictured)! Nina Devlin's lawyer said, "She was completely unaware that confidential information about her job was being used as the basis for securities trading" (we expect him to announce divorce paper next!). Devlin, who moved on to Barclays after Lehman's collapsed, has been suspended; he and his co-horts allegedly made $4.8 million in profits. more ›

A U.S. District Court Judge sentenced one-time Credit Suisse investment banker Hafiz Muhammad Zubair Naseem to ten years in prison for insider trading, stating that some Wall Street professionals were not getting the picture of the seriousness of the crime. While working at Credit Suisse's Global Energy Group in Manhattan, Naseem fed insider information to a partner in Pakistan, who used the tips to illegally amass almost $8 million in profits. more ›