Reuters – Two U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement lawyers are under investigation by federal criminal authorities for allegedly using insider information to trade stocks, a report by the SEC’s internal watchdog said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Attorney’s Office are conducting an investigation of possible criminal and civil violations.
The report alleges the two lawyers traded in stock of a large financial services company even though another SEC employee became aware of three separate enforcement investigations of that company. That employee told the two enforcement lawyers that she could not buy more stock in this company because she had become aware of these investigations.
But the two lawyers did trade in the financial services company and denied they heard about the investigations, the report alleges.