A Morgan Stanley stockbroker and a clerk at a prestigious New York law firm were charged with insider trading in corporate mergers, in an alleged four-year scheme involving a middleman who would chew up napkins on which he passed illegal tips.Authorities said Steven Metro, 40, a managing clerk at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, stole tips about corporate transactions involving his firm's clients, and passed them through the middleman to stockbroker Vladimir Eydelman, 42, who would trade for himself, family, the middleman and customers.They alleged that the scheme netted more than $5.6 million of illegal profit on at least 12 transactions, with some profits being kicked back to Metro, and other profits spent by Eydelman on a home, jewelry and a $118,000 Maserati.The case is the latest in a multi-year federal crackdown on insider trading. It was uncovered after the middleman, a friend of Metro's who met him in 1995 in their first year of law school, began cooperating with the FBI in December.
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services company that, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, provides its products and services to a range of clients and customers, including corporations, governments, financial institutions and individuals. Shares of MS traded higher by 0.51% or $0.16/share to $31.81. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $20.16 and as high as $33.52. On average, 12902300 shares of MS exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 9414422.
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