Feds Widen Insider-Trading Probe

Time to be thankful you’re not a hedge-fund manager. Federal authorities announced that they’re widening their insider-trading inquiry to include some of the nation’s most powerful investment firms. Sources said the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office subpoenaed the hedge-fund firms SAC Capital Advisers and Citadel LLC, the mutual-fund company Janus Capital Group Inc. and one of the nation’s biggest investment firms, Wellington Management Co. The subpoenas came only days after the FBI questioned an account manager at the California consulting firm Primary Global Research LLC. The latest subpoenas reveal that the inquiry is even broader than previously thought: It seems to be focused both on whether the firms leaked insider information and whether independent consultants provided private information to investors.