US prosecutors on Thursday revealed criminal charges against 14 people, including a hedge fund executive who allegedly handed out pre-paid cell phones to tipsters so they could avoid detection.
Preet Bharara, US attorney in Manhattan, said the investigation, which is continuing, ??goes to the very heart of fair play in the business world?. Those charged included two attorneys and a former analyst at Moody??s.
??It would be a mistake to think this investigation is focused only or principally on hedge funds,? Mr Bharara said.
At the centre of a network described in Thursday??s complaints filed by prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission is Zvi Goffer, who worked at Galleon for about eight months before starting Incremental Capital, a trading firm in late 2008. Known as ??the Octopussy?, because of his reputation for having his arms in so many sources of inside information, he allegedly provided tipsters with prepaid phones to minimise the chances of being caught, says the SEC complaint.
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