Three people who worked at technology firms including chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. were arrested along with an “expert networker” as federal prosecutors expanded a probe of insider trading to companies.
A fifth man, Daniel DeVore, formerly a supply manager at Dell Inc., pleaded guilty in federal court in New York on Dec. 10 to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud as part of the probe, prosecutors said today in a statement. He is cooperating with the investigation.
Today’s arrests were the latest development in a nationwide investigation of illegal trading at hedge funds by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission. DeVore and three of the four arrested today are accused of providing inside information about their companies to clients of Primary Global Research LLC, a consulting company that provides experts to investors. The fourth person arrested, James Fleishman, works at Primary Global.
“A corrupt network of insiders at some of the world’s leading technology companies served as so-called consultants who sold out their employers by stealing and then peddling their valuable inside information,” Bharara said in the statement.