When: Today, Friday, December 10, 2010
Where: CNBC’s “The Strategy Session”
The following is the unofficial transcript of breaking news from CNBC's Kate Kelly. All references must be sourced to CNBC.
DAVID FABER: Want to start the broadcast today with some other breaking news from Kate Kelly, that about the potential timing of indictments in that vast insider trading probe that has been gripping Wall Street and getting a lot of people to lawyer up Kate
KATE KELLY: Absolutely David and I think it has been a very busy period for defense lawyers, as well of course as prosecutors and folks in the SEC office of enforcement. What I am hearing as of this morning is that people are bracing for indictments and arrests as early as next week. When I say people I mean obviously Wall Street, the hedge fund community, expert networks that have worked with those hedge funds and of course defense lawyers and prosecutors. I am told that there are a couple of reasons for this, one is the fact that essentially the week of the 20th, which is the week after next, things are going to more or less grind to a halt because of the Christmas holiday, but also, a more chilling explanation for it which is that it could give prosecutors a tactical advantage. What I mean by that is if people are indicted and arrested next week, put in jail for a few days or longer right before the holiday season, I am told that one traditional tactic that a prosecutor might use is to time it so that they run the risk of missing holidays with family and that might make them more likely to actually cooperate with the government in an investigation.
FABER: That is cold, that is cold-hearted stuff.
KELLY: Well, it’s true David but it's interesting because one issue here is that a lot of the potential targets tend to be wealthier perhaps than targets in other types of cases so, money is not necessarily an issue in terms of posting bond or bail. But timing and missing time with family is something that we can all identify with and could end up being a tactical advantage.
FABER: Of course key things we still don’t have answers to and the key things are who are we talking about and what the charges look like. So much of Wall Street focused on whether they be black and white, especially it gets to this key issue of the use of expert networks and ultimately, really, what information is considered material or how you go about finding information.
KELLY: That’s right and I think we all curious to see some more details about how these issues are defined. What is improper when it comes to expert network information given to hedge funds that then act on the information. We’re also totally curious to get some more information about Goldman Sachs, which is apparently part of the investigation as it pertains to two deals they advised on. But we really don’t know a whole lot more detail. Its employees I should say rather than the firm in question, but, hopefully will have some more information next week.
FABER: Sounds like we’re going to very, very soon. Could be a nervous weekend for some people.
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