The SEC is reportedly seeking information from brokerage firms about possible insider trading in at least 17 public companies, including IBM, 3M Co., Procter & Gamble, AIG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Coca-Cola, Dell, the Wendy’s Arby’s Group, National City Corp., Sovereign Bancorp, General Growth Properties, WMS Industries, Alliance Data Systems, Goodrich Petroleum Corp., Allos Therapeutics, JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd., and LEAP Wireless International.
Dan Dorfman reports via the Huffington Post that the investigations are not of the companies themselves, but rather on the trading in their shares both here and abroad. Dorfman reports that he has
obtained copies of internal SEC documents that the agency recently fired off to the brokerage community in which it detailed the names of the 17 companies whose stock trading activity is of particular interest to the agency. In its inquiries to brokerage firms–which are usually kept under deep wraps–the SEC requested the names of U.S. and overseas clients who traded in assorted securities in specific time periods.