Policy

SAC Capital Accused of Insider Trading

Major Wall Street hedge-fund operator

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The federal government has launched a rare criminal prosecution of a major Wall Street firm: SAC Capital Advisors, a hedge-fund operator that investigators have long suspected of illegally trading on inside information.

U.S. Atty. Preet Bharara, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, announced the grand jury's indictment of SAC Capital on Thursday. The indictment, which names SAC Capital and related entities, alleges one count of wire fraud and four counts of securities fraud. A news conference is scheduled later Thursday.

The indictment alleges "systematic insider trading" from 1999 through 2010, "resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal profits and avoided losses at the expense of members of the investing public."