WSJ: Feds to Expose Vast Insider-Trading Culture

Federal authorities, capping a three-year investigation, are preparing insider-trading charges that could ensnare consultants, investment bankers, hedge-fund and mutual-fund traders and analysts across the nation, according to people familiar with the matter, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The probes are both civil and criminal in nature, say people familiar with the matter.

The investigations have the power to expose a culture of insider-trading within the financial industry. Federal authorities say there are new ways non-public information is passed to traders through experts tied to specific industries or companies.

Firms being examined include Primary Global Research LLC, a Mountain View, Calif., firm that connects experts with investors seeking information in the technology, health-care and other industries. Goldman Sachs and John Kinnucan, a principal at Broadband Research LLC in Portland, Ore., have also been examined.

Kinnucan sent an e-mail on Oct. 26 telling hedge-fund and mutual-fund clients of the FBI visit.

Some charges could be brought before year-end, say the sources.