Tuesday, November 23, 2010

WSJ Confirms Tonight That Wellington Was Served A Subpoena -- Not Just An Informal Request


Sort of a smallish matter, but it is now confirmed (by the Wall Street Journal, as of about a half hour ago) that Wellington did receive a subpoena (answering my earlier questions on that score) from the US Attorneys' office, in Manhattan. It seeks more than trading records, though -- according the the Journal's latest reporting:

. . . .Hedge-fund giants SAC Capital Advisors and Citadel LLC, big mutual-fund company Janus Capital Group Inc. and Wellington Management Co., one of the nation's biggest institutional-investment firms, have received subpoenas from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office seeking trading, communications and other data as part of a broad criminal investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation also recently questioned an account manager at Primary Global Research LLC, a California company that provides "expert-network" services to hedge funds and mutual funds, people familiar with the matter say. . . .

Still another strand of the probe is examining whether Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bankers leaked information about transactions, including health-care mergers, in ways that benefited certain investors, the people say. Goldman declined to comment. . . .

This is going to be a rather wild ride, heading into the holiday season -- for many, many "old school" pros, previously used to doing it the "old back-alley" way -- and now caught square in the process, and in the FBI's wiretapped spotlights.

We'll keep an eye on it.

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