DealZone

The U.S. government’s crackdown on insider trading continues. On Wednesday, two men were accused by federal prosecutors of carrying out a 17-year conspiracy to trade on corporate merger secrets stolen from three major U.S. law firms.

As this latest case makes clear, non-disclosure rules and clever systems of checks and balances are only so helpful in preventing insider trading.

“You can’t legislate human behavior. People will act as people will do,” David Lazarus, senior managing director, co-founder, EdgeRock Realty Advisors, said at the Reuters Global M&A Summit in New York, adding there’s always people whose greed will push them over the line.

Shares of Swiss commodities trader Glencore are set to start trading in London on May 24 and in Hong Kong on May 25, a Hong Kong newspaper reported.

Virgin Atlantic boss Sir Richard Branson told Bloomberg that he plans to remain a “major shareholder” in his airline even as his company seeks out a partner to compete with British Airways.

“Generally in their mid-20s or early 30s, today’s start-up founders are becoming more assertive in funding rounds, securing better terms and, in many cases, cashing out part of their investments well before an initial public offering,” writes Evelyn M. Rusli in NYT’s DealBook.

Is the venture fundraising industry becoming too exclusive for its own good? PeHub’s Connie Bessemer investigates.