WASHINGTON POST: …A number of current and former congressional staffers said talking with investors and research analysts is common, akin to answering questions from lobbyists and reporters about intricate pieces of legislation. In March, a top staffer for Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) spent half an hour talking to investors on a private conference call about health-care policy.
But the ways investors acquire “political intelligence” are facing public scrutiny since federal investigators issued subpoenas last month in a case in which a Washington brokerage advised clients about a Medicare funding decision before the administration announced it, triggering a surge in health-care stock trading.
Such information is often distributed to narrow audiences, whether in an analyst report that’s given to clients and those with special subscriptions or, as in the call with Hatch’s staffer, information in a private call given straight to big investors such as hedge funds… (more)
