Insider Trading

Coinbase, one of the largest online exchanges for buying and selling cryptocurrencies, is investigating possible insider trading after the price of a Bitcoin offshoot called Bitcoin Cash climbed hours before Coinbase announced support.

Due to its stature in the industry, a cryptocurrency trading on Coinbase-as opposed to smaller exchanges-is seen as a stamp of legitimacy. When Coinbase announced unceremoniously on Tuesday that it would allow trading for Bitcoin Cash, a controversial clone of Bitcoin with some small differences, the digital currency’s value skyrocketed from just under $3,000 per coin to above $6,000.

Deutsche Börse chief executive Carsten Kengeter will step down days after a German court refused to approve a settlement with prosecutors over allegations of insider trading. The company said in a statement on Thursday that it had accepted Mr Kengeter’s resignation with “regret.” He will leave at the end of the year.

The decision by the Frankfurt court earlier this week was a major blow to Deutsche Börse’s efforts to draw a line under the investigation into Mr Kengeter’s conduct on the eve of failed merger talks with the London Stock Exchange.

Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the massive data breach at Equifax, which potentially exposed the personal information of up to 143 million Americans, including their Social Security and driver’s license numbers.

Federal prosecutors are examining the nearly $1.8 million in sales of Equifax stock by Chief Financial Officer John Gamble, Joseph Loughran, president of the credit-reporting giant’s U.S. Information Solutions division, and Rodolfo Ploder, president of the firm’s Workforce Solutions Unit, Bloomberg News reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the investigation.

The sharing of sensitive information has been at the root of many of the scandals facing the financial services industry recently, for example the LIBOR and FX rigging episodes. However, the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has now marked Wall Street traders as a potential area of focus, given the use of encrypted apps to hide illicit communications.

According to reports emerging in the Financial Times, the FBI is becoming increasingly concerned that Wall Street traders have found a way to turn encryption to their advantage when it comes to illegally exchanging insider information.

Switzerland’s financial markets authority said Friday that it has taken action in two separate cases of insider trading and market manipulation, seizing millions of Swiss francs (dollars) of illegal profits and banning three traders from the industry.

The authority, FINMA, said 1.4 million francs in ill-gotten profits were seized from a former corporate board member who "repeatedly and systematically flouted the ban on using non-public information" to trade in shares of premier Swiss companies between 2013 and 2016.

A senior executive at Credit Suisse Taiwan Elsa Chiu and her husband were released on bail early Wednesday after being interrogate about alleged insider trading in the takeover of Hermes Microvision by ASML of the Netherlands, Taipei District Prosecutors Office spokesman Chang Chieh-Chin told Reuters.

"During the merger and acquisition activities, there were some trading irregularities, and the stock exchange regulator detected this irregular trading," said Chang, who is also a deputy chief prosecutor.

A former director at Barclays was sentenced on Wednesday to five months in a U.S. prison for repeatedly passing tips about mergers under way at the bank to a plumber, who made thousands of dollars trading ahead of the deals’ announcements.

Steven McClatchey, 58-year-old former banker, in July admitted to leaking confidential information to plumber Gary Pusey, who allegedly made about $76,000 trading ahead of deals involving PetSmart Inc., Omnicare Inc. and others.

In court, McClatchey saying he had provided the insider tips to ingratiate himself with the plumber, Gary Pusey, in hopes of getting a "simpler, less stressful" job outside of Wall Street with his 20-employee plumbing business in Long Island.