First with news of arrests in U.S insider trading probe

Reuters was first to report on Dec 16 the next phase of the U.S. government’s widening probe into insider trading, beating the competition by several minutes on news that four people had been charged for allegedly leaking secrets about technology companies to hedge funds. Reuters was first to send headlines on the complaint, allowing our clients to start digesting the news that the long-rumored arrests had finally happened. Bloomberg only caught up with us 7 minutes later by citing CNBC. Our headlines revealed that the insider trading allegations involved shares in several leading tech companies, including Apple, Advanced Micro Devices and Flextronics. Reuters was also the first to make the connection between one of the four men arrested and hedge fund Level Global — a firm previously raided by the FBI. Over the next hours, Reuters reporters on the legal, tech, finance and funds teams worked together to produce exclusive stories about expert network firm Primary Global Research; the unique temptations that Silicon Valley insiders have to leak material information; and the key role played by former hedge fund manager Richard Choo-Beng Lee, one of the main witnesses in the case.