A three year FBI investigation into insider trading around the country is about to break, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Federal agents have investigated consultants, hedge funds, mutual fund managers and investment banks, including bankers at Goldman Sachs.
More from the WSJ:
The criminal and civil probes, which authorities say could eclipse the impact on the financial industry of any previous such investigation, are examining whether multiple insider-trading rings reaped illegal profits totaling tens of millions of dollars, the people say. Some charges could be brought before year-end, they say.
The investigations, if they bear fruit, 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.
Possible charges against Goldman include whether the bank leaked information about transactions, including health care mergers.. The FBI also investigated Goldman in the takeover of Advanced Medical Optics by Abbott Laboratories in 2009, when Advance Medical Optics shares jumped 143% on the day of the takeover.
Regulation is hard to make work because it can be and is lobbied to be so weak - but Prosecutions can't be rigged by the insiders so easily and affect the Big People. Maybe this is the way to go? Going to be interesting.
