OMG, I Finally See Some Cops on the Street

Finally we are seeing some cops on the Wall Street. From AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation has raided three hedge funds linked to a broader insider-trading probe, law enforcement officials said Monday.

Bureau employees searched the New York offices of Level Global Investors LP, and the Stamford, Conn. headquarters of Diamondback Capital Management LLC, an official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss an ongoing case.

The FBI confirmed that it executed search warrants at both locations and a third at 30 Federal St. in Boston. Hedge fund Loch Capital Management LLC has its headquarters at that address.

FBI spokesman James Margolin said the agency is “conducting searches in an ongoing investigation.” He would not comment further.

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies are investigating insider trading by hedge funds, mutual funds and investment bankers. The companies allegedly earned tens of millions in illegal profits using secret information about mergers, the Wall Street Journal reported this weekend.

Diamondback and Level Global both are run by former managers of SAC Capital Advisors LP, of Stamford, Conn. Diamondback manages about $4.71 billion, according to public filings. Level Global manages $3.09 billion, filings show.

Loch Capital is run by brothers Timothy and Todd McSweeney. The brothers have been linked in news reports to hedge-fund manager Steven Fortuna. Fortuna pleaded guilty last year to charges stemming from an earlier insider trading investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The raids come a month after U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan told the New York City Bar Association that white-collar crime was on the rise, carried out by Wall Street heavyweights who consider inside information “a performance enhancing drug that provides the illegal ‘edge’ to outpace their rivals and make even more money.”

Bharara said his office and the FBI had both recently added more resources to exposing insider trading and considered it a top criminal priority.

“Disturbingly, many of the people who are going to such lengths to obtain inside information for a trading advantage are already among the most advantaged, privileged, and wealthy insiders in modern finance,” he said last month.

The 42 year old Preet Bharata – is an immigrant from India. From the Time Magazine:

Just weeks after he was sworn in as U.S. Attorney for New York’s Southern District, Preet Bharara is being put to the test. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement that self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators will be tried in a Manhattan federal court makes Bharara the man responsible for bringing an unabashed terrorist to justice. Bharara, who drew plaudits for his investigation into the firings of eight U.S. Attorneys under President George W. Bush, has burnished his reputation by prosecuting organized crime figures and white collar criminals.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1939274,00.html#ixzz163E26jW6