Subscribe to our e-mail newsletters
For more info on a specific newsletter, click the title. Details will be displayed in a new window.
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
More E-Mail Newsletters 
Computerworld 2007Subscribe to Computerworld
40 years of the most authoritative source of news and information for IT leaders.

SEC alleges Internet insider trading ring

 

March 15, 2000 (Computerworld) -- A part-time word processor at Goldman Sachs & Co. Inc. and Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. was charged yesterday with running an insider trading ring that allegedly netted the clerk and 18 other people more than $8 million in profits by trading on 23 public stocks.
The other defendants, including another CS First Boston employee, were also charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office.
This was the first Internet-based insider trading ring cracked by federal prosecutors, according to the SEC, and it was a coordinated effort between that agency, the U.S. Attorney, the FBI and the self-regulatory organizations that form the Intermarket Surveillance Group.
The defendants allegedly made more than $8 million in illegal profits over the past three years, trading in such companies as Wang Laboratories, Regal Cinemas Inc., and Fingerhut Cos. — each the target of a merger or acquisition deal on which Goldman Sachs or CS First Boston worked.
The scheme first began in mid-1997, the SEC alleged, when John Freeman, 34, was working as a temp at Goldman Sachs. It was then that Freeman met insurance agent James Cooper, 41, and laser printing company executive Benton Erskine, 39, in an Internet chat room.
The three then formed a plan in which Freeman would pass on any stock tips he discovered during the course of his work at Goldman Sachs and, later, at Credit Suisse First Boston. The SEC said he learned about some deals as part of his normal duties, which involved word processing, formatting and graphics work.
Other information came from helping co-workers on their assignments, looking through the brokerages' internal computer systems, and by looking through documents he found at printers and copiers.
In addition, Freeman paid off another Credit Suisse First Boston temporary employee more than $5,000 over the past year.
The ring grew to include a total of 19 people, including two employees in the Bowling Green, Ky., office of Morgan Keegan & Company Inc. and two principals of G2 Investments Inc., a broker-dealer headquartered in Nashville.
According to a Credit Suisse First Boston spokesperson, the New York-based brokerage is cooperating fully with the authorities and is contacting its clients to keep them fully informed about the case.
Information about what steps the company would take to prevent similar problems in the future wasn't immediately available.




Print this Story Send Us Feedback E-mail this Story Digg! Digg this Story Slashdot this Story
Mozilla launches Firefox 3.0 RC1 early
Microsoft: Don't misunderstand UAC, other Vista features
HP confirms XP SP3 endless reboot snafu, promises patch
More top stories...
Microsoft pulls Windows Home Server backup feature
Yahoo tells Icahn that its own board knows best
Tools circulate that crack Debian, Ubuntu keys
Specialists have retrieved about 99% of the data on a disk drive on board the crashed space shuttle Columbia. Don't miss the photographs of the recovered drive.
These big ideas were supposed to revolutionize technology, but they never actually appeared. In a few cases, you'll be glad they didn't.
Nearly 20 years after the first Internet worm, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols takes stock of the malware/anti-malware landscape and spotlights how the two sides are approaching the battle.
Though some thought it was released too soon, Mac OS X 10.5 has matured into a solid operating system, says reviewer Michael DeAgonia.
Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS.
Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready?
All Zones
Application Performance Zone
Enterprise-Class Security Zone
Enterprise Solutions Zone
The File Data Management Zone
Grid Computing on Windows Zone
Security Management Zone
ITIL Best Practices Zone
The SAS Zone
Storage Virtualization Zone
The Data Center Management Zone

Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Critical Considerations for Data De-duplication
Critical Considerations for Data De-duplication
Register for this live webcast, airing May 22nd at 2pm ET!
Go to the webcast 
Solving Real World Storage Problems
Download this whitepaper now.
As your storage needs grow, the cost of managing it need not spiral out of control. Our vision - Universal Distributed Storage - is about:
  • mainstreaming high endstorage functionality
  • solutions built on industrystandard hardware
  • a broad partner ecosystem
Our next generation of Server and NAS products - Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 - will help you further reduce your storage costs.
Download this executive briefing download
Certify your Software Integrity with thawte Code Signing Certificates
Get this white paper now!
(Source: Thawte) This guide will show you how Code Signing Certificates are used to secure code that can be downloaded from the Internet. You will also learn how these certificates operate with different software platforms.
Download this white paper go
White Papers
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services.
Securing Financial Services Beyond the Perimeter
Intercept Spam & Viruses With MessageLabs
Meeting PCI Compliance with SonicWALL Global Management System
View more whitepapers 
Virtualized iSCSI SANs: Flexible, Scalable, Enterprise Storage for Virtual Infrastructures
Enterprises of all sizes are building flexible storage infrastructures using iSCSI and advanced virtualization technologies. This joint VMware and Dell EqualLogic Virtualized iSCSI SAN white paper describes a virtualized infrastructure that applies storage and server virtualization technologies to cost-effectively achieve a flexible, high-performance, dynamic IT infrastructure that is simple to manage and scale.

Download this white paper 
Case Study: Simplified DR Planning and Implementation
LifeLink Foundation needed to provide business continuity and DR of critical transplant related information to multiple locations and needed to manage DR planning and implementation in a hurricane zone. Learn how VMware & Dell's EqualLogic iSCSI SANs worked together to implement two remote sites providing consolidated virtual storage, snapshot-based backup and recovery.

Download this case study  
Webcast: Disaster Recovery Simplified – iSCSI and VMware Site Recovery Manager Deliver Results
Quick recovery of operations after a site failure requires major planning and testing, dependent on an infrastructure and recovery plan that can be simply and affordably deployed. Download this Webcast presented by Dell and VMware to learn how new levels of integration between Dell's EqualLogic iSCSI storage area networks (SANs) and server virtualization can help solve these critical issues.

View this webcast 
Webcast: Data Protection and Disaster Recovery with iSCSI and VMware
Data protection and disaster recovery are top of mind for any IT manager, and the challenges of complexity and cost remain as obstacles. Dell EqualLogic virtualized iSCSI SANs and VMware Infrastructure 3 enhance the scalability, ease of use, and reliable operation of IT infrastructures to withstand failures and overcome disasters

View this webcast