washington<u+2014>manhattan u.s. attorney preet bharara defended his office<u+2019>s pursuit of insider trading and said the supreme court may soon make it easier for his prosecutors to pursue such cases. speaking at the wall street journal<u+2019>s ceo council meeting<u+00a0>on tuesday, he said there is <u+201c>cautious optimism<u+201d> the supreme court will <u+201c>correct what we think is the clear mistake,<u+201d> referring to a 2014 appeals court decision that threw out a major insider trading case. in october, the supreme court heard arguments in an insider-trading case that involved tips passed through relatives. two years ago, a new york federal appeals court threw out u.s. v. newman , which involved tips passed through a chain of traders. that ruling was a blow to mr. bharara <u+2019>s aggressive strategy, forcing his office to drop some cases and rethink others. in the interview, mr. bharara also said his office witnesses firsthand some of the problems that fueled anger in the presidential campaign and led to the election of donald trump, who ran as an outsider. <u+201c>part of the election on both sides was about whether systems are rigged. and i can tell you from cases we have brought there is a lot that is rigged, on the street and in politics,<u+201d> he said. in addition to dozens of high-profile insider trading cases, the manhattan u.s. attorney<u+2019>s office has brought corruption cases against a dozen state lawmakers in new york and convicted the leaders of both legislative houses. <u+201c>i would like to think that the level of <u+00a0>aggressiveness in law enforcement will remain the same<u+2026>you<u+2019>re talking about things like keeping the markets fair and keeping the government honest, and i don<u+2019>t think we are seeing a departure from that, unless i<u+2019>m missing something big,<u+201d> mr. bharara said. mr. bharara said most of his office<u+2019>s insider-trading cases still stood the test of time, and referred to now-defunct hedge fund sac capital, which pleaded guilty in 2013 to insider trading and paid $1.8 billion in penalties. he cited it as an example of a firm that lacked an ethical culture. when it was negotiating its resolution, mr. bharara said prosecutors asked if the firm could provide an example of one time the ceo said in an email or speech, <u+201c>i care that people do their jobs honestly, with integrity.<u+201d> <u+201c>there was deafening silence,<u+201d> mr. bharara said. write to aruna viswanatha at aruna.viswanatha@wsj.com
preet bharara: supreme court may ease insider-trading prosecutions  - wsj
aruna viswanatha