One of Gordon Gekko's catchphrases from the original Wall Street film holds just as true today as it did in 1987. "The most valuable commodity I know of isinformation," Gekko told his minion.
Now the passing of inside information about companies is at the heart of a US investigation that this week moved from the opaque world of hedge funds to draw in the great and the good of American corporate life.
The story centers on Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire who ran Galleon, once one of the world's biggest hedge funds. Mr Rajaratnam was arrested by the FBI in October 2009 and charged with making millions of dollars from trading on inside information about companies including Google and Hilton Hotels. Prosecutors said his arrest with five alleged conspirators had uncovered the biggest insider-trading ring linked to a hedge fund.Peter Hahn, a former US investment banker who is now a lecturer at Cass Business School, said: "We continue to see that the great and the good have feet of clay like everybody else. You can't assume that because someone has achieved a lot in their career it implies more about their conduct.
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