SEC lawyers probed for insider trading
Two lawyers at America's Securities & Exchange Commission are facing allegations of insider trading.
The SEC - the top financial watchdog in the US - has referred the case both to the FBI and the US Attorney's Office in Washington.
The unnamed pair are still working for the SEC and deny any wrongdoing.
They are accused of using knowledge gained about companies under investigation to make lucrative bets on the US stockmarket. One of the lawyers made 247 trades in the last two years, the other 14, according to reports.
The allegations come at a bad time. The SEC is investigating the $50 billion Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme amid suggestions it should have been quicker to spot the now notorious fraud.
SEC inspector-general David Kotz - in effect the watchdog's watchdog - has already criticised the agency's rules for its staff and said the SEC has "no compliance system in place" to ensure employees don't abuse the "tremendous amount of non-public information at their disposal".
