By Matthew Goldstein and Jennifer Ablan
It’s not every day a public service announcement, much less one for the FBI, makes national headlines. Then again, it’s not every day that Michael Douglas reprises his Gordon Gekko role to make a pitch for informants to come forward and help law enforcement smoke out insider traders.
The ad, which has been featured on network newscasts and was heavily touted on the front-page of The Wall Street Journal, highlights the task at hand for the likes of David Chaves, a senior agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“It’s gone viral,” says Chaves, who is one of the masterminds behind “Perfect Hedge,” the long-running undercover operation that has helped federal prosecutors secure the convictions of more than 50 people on insider trading charges.
The most famous conviction secured by the Perfect Hedge task force is multimillionaire Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam and dozens of traders.
Chaves says the FBI coined its investigation Perfect Hedge as it involves an investment strategy position or positions that eliminate all market risk from a portfolio – rarely found – but an occurrence typically with insider’s information.
