Associated Press
Agencies Questioned on Insider TradingBy MARCY GORDON , 09.26.2006, 07:53 PM
Senators on Tuesday questioned whether federal law-enforcement
agencies are pursuing insider trading vigorously enough, as experts
noted that illicit use of confidential information to profit was
on the rise.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
questioned officials with the Justice Department and the Securities
and Exchange Commission at a hearing on their enforcement efforts
against illegal insider trading. And he elicited statements from
securities-law experts that more prosecutions were needed.
-snip-An analysis of the biggest U.S. corporate mergers over the past year,
conducted for The New York Times by a Canadian research firm and
reported last month, indicated that the stocks of 41 percent of the
companies getting buyout bids showed unusual and suspect trading
in the days and weeks before the deals were announced.
In general, illegal insider trading "is on the upswing," testified Robert
Marchman, an official of the New York Stock Exchange's regulatory
division.
-snip-