[JURIST] The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website] on Wednesday filed a civil suit [complaint, PDF] in federal district court against Leon Cooperman [Forbes backgrounder], billionaire and head of major hedge fund firm Omega Advisors [corporate website]. Cooperman is a major shareholder in Atlas Pipeline Partners [corporate website] and was allegedly informed [NYT report] in 2010 that the company was selling off one of its operating facilities. According to SEC regulators, Cooperman took advantage of this insider information and garnered USD $4 million when Atlas’ stock rose following the sale. Regulators have also found that Cooperman shared this insider information with other relatives invested in the company, one of which may have made the initial report against Cooperman. While the definition of insider trading has recently been narrowed to those that seek personal benefit, regulators believe that Cooperman may still be charged since he misappropriated confidential information. Cooperman has denied all allegations and has stressed his determination to fight the charges and preserve his legacy.

Insider trading is an international concern among securities regulators. In November New York a district judge ordered [JURIST report] a US House of Representatives committee and a former staffer to cooperate with an insider trading investigation into a health care policy leak. Last October the US Supreme Court rejected [JURIST report] an appeal in the case of two former hedge fund traders whose insider trading convictions were overturned by a lower court in December. In July 2015 the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued an indictment [JURIST report] against real estate agent Herbert Sudfeld for alleged insider trading, with charges including securities fraud, three counts of making false statements to the FBI, and aiding and abetting. In April of last year the Supreme Court denied certiorari [JURIST report] in an appeal brought by Rajat Gupta, the former director of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., for his 2012 insider trading conviction. In January 2015 the Supreme Court rejected another appeal [JURIST report] by Gupta, leaving in place a lifetime ban on serving as an officer or director of a public company that stems from the civil case against him by the SEC.