SEC Boosts Probe for Wall Street Leaks: Mutual-Fund Complaints Help Prompt Call for Data In Insider Investigation

By KARA SCANNELL and RANDALL SMITH
February 7, 2007; Page C15

The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked nearly a dozen brokerage firms for trading and other data in an effort to determine whether there is a leak of inside information across Wall Street.

The inquiry is being driven in part by complaints from mutual funds and others who worry market participants are trading ahead of their trades before they are executed.

The request is an expansion of the agency’s continuing “street sweep” investigation of potential insider trading, which has mainly focused on the passing of inside information within a brokerage firm. Now, the agency is expanding the probe to look at information being exchanged between firms in hopes of avoiding detection, according to a top agency official.

For complete story, see Wall Street Online Journal.