More twists in Capitol Hill insider-trading probe

Jun 23 2014

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether nonpublic information related to a 2013 announcement by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding 2014 reimbursement rates was leaked improperly.

The Wall Street Journal: Insider-Trade Probe Eyes Call With House Aide
About an hour before stock trading closed April 1, 2013, a lobbyist at the center of a federal insider-trading probe spoke on the phone with a senior House health-care aide. The disclosure of that conversation represents the latest twist in a long-running federal investigation into whether congressional aides or other federal officials leaked word of a change in health-care policy to traders or anyone seeking information on behalf of investors. The conversation between the lobbyist, Mark Hayes, and Brian Sutter, staff director of the House Ways and Means Committee's health-care subpanel, was revealed Friday in court filings by the Securities and Exchange Commission (Ackerman and Mullins, 6/22). 

Reuters: House Committee Ordered To Hearing As SEC Probes Medicare Insider Trading
A U.S. judge on Friday directed the House Ways and Means Committee and a staffer to appear at a July 1 hearing to address their alleged refusal to respond to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenas as part of an insider trading probe. The order by U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in New York covers both the committee and Brian Sutter, staff director for its healthcare subcommittee, and came at the SEC's request. The SEC said it is examining whether material nonpublic information concerning an April 1, 2013 announcement by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of 2014 reimbursement rates for a Medicare program was leaked improperly, and whether anyone traded on that information (Raymond, Stempel and Lynch, 6/20).