Prosecutors in New York charged 14 people Thursday in a widening probe apparently linked to what officials say was the largest hedge-fund insider trading scheme ever on Wall Street.
Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said 14 people, "including attorneys and Wall Street professionals" had been charged "for their alleged involvement in insider trading that netted 20 million dollars."
Among those charged was Zvi Goffer, who worked for the hedge fund Galleon, and is alleged to have "paid sources for inside information" about companies prior to making deals on the stock market.
Galleon Management LP was shut down last month after Sri Lankan founder Raj Rajaratnam was indicted in the alleged scheme. Rajaratnam faces up to 20 years in prison for allegedly using insider information on companies including Google, IBM and Hilton.
Others charged Thursday with insider trading include current and former employees at the Ropes and Gray law firm and Incremental Capital, a trading company.
Rajaratnam's fund was estimated to be worth 3.7 billion dollars when it was shut down. The entrepreneur featured on Forbes magazine's world list of billionaires this year in the 559th spot.
Prosecutors said at the time of his arrest that he was part of "the largest hedge fund insider trading case in history."
