“two junior employees of top Wall Street firms Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. had been charged with orchestrating one of the most extensive insider-trading schemes uncovered in decades.”
‘This one of the most widespread, varied and premeditated insider-trading schemes that we have ever prosecuted,’ said Mark K. Schonfeld, SEC regional director, noting that the schemes netted a total of $6.7 million. ‘This case demonstrates that businesses remain as vulnerable to infiltration as the individuals they employ.’
While audacious in its scope, this case was not much different than most insider trading capers. The accused investment bankers would pass information about pending mergers to a former associate who would then trade on the information and also tip others who then kicked back part of their trading profit. These guys also went to great lengths to expand this illegal business beyond what they learned from their investment bank employers. They recruited two people to apply and get jobs at a BusinessWeek printing plant so the recruits could pass on the names of the stocks that would be mentioned favorably in the magazine’s "Inside Wall Street" column.‘This one of the most widespread, varied and premeditated insider-trading schemes that we have ever prosecuted,’ said Mark K. Schonfeld, SEC regional director, noting that the schemes netted a total of $6.7 million. ‘This case demonstrates that businesses remain as vulnerable to infiltration as the individuals they employ.’
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