The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly seized over 100 Wall Street personnel cellphones as part of an investigation to uncover insider trading.
The cellphones that were taken into custody for investigation belong to more than 100 prominent Wall Street traders and dealers. The mission is to uncover the truth about whether the insider information about deals and traders was shared illegally through their phones.
SEC on a mission to bust insider trading
As per the reports from Dailymail, the top staff who hold a prominent position in the company are being questioned and asked to hand over their personal phones. The reported inquest has included the names of up to 30 people, including the heads of trading desks and investment banks. But the names of the staff members are kept private at the moment.
The entire investigation aims to bust the use of social media platforms to spread sensitive information about deals and trades.
The statement comes as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse for employee misuse of messaging apps.
Once the investigation comes to an end, the firms that are found to be guilty will be punished. The investigation and search are kept as highly personal as outside attorneys have been hired to help scrutinize the staff members.
As per the reports, sources told Bloomberg that the officials are already collecting information from users who were found to have used messaging platforms to conduct such activities.
JPMorgan Chase was fined $200 million by the SEC and the CFTC late last year for failing to keep track of employees’ usage of private apps and personal email accounts to avoid company record-keeping obligations.
The entire probe will also prove difficult for the officials as Whatsapp messages are end-to-end encrypted, and users can quickly delete messages with the click of a button. At the moment, the clarity around the firms under the probe is unclear.