Insider Trading Probe Targets 2 SEC Officials

Two lawyers with the SEC are under federal investigation for alleged insider trading, Reuters reports. The SEC's internal watchdog claims that they traded stock in a large financial services company, despite warnings from other employees that the company was under investigation. One of the two works in the SEC's Office of Chief Counsel and has access to a substantial amount of nonpublic information.

A spokesman at the SEC said: "We take seriously even the suggestion that any SEC employee would engage in insider trading. We note that the inspector general report neither accuses any SEC employee of insider trading nor concludes that any such conduct took place." (More SEC stories.)