The SEC is bent on proving to the world that it is a savvy crime-fighting organization that is fully capable of rebounding from recent embarrassments. The Bernard Madoff scandal of course is the best example. We've certainly seen some aggressive policing as of late. The Raj Rajaratnam scandal for example featured the use of wiretaps for the first time in an insider trading case. It was also fairly aggressive in its use of informants.

The fact is the agency may not have a choice but to treat these guys like mobsters. It needs every advantage. It's clear to many the use of email as a the primary type of evidence used at a trial may not be strong enough. That was one of the takeaways of the trial of Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, the former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers who won a jury acquittal. It's unclear if wiretap evidence will be seen as all that different. But these new tools reflect the mind set of a newly creative SEC. We may see this aggressiveness transfer to areas beyond insider trading. 

For more:
- here's the article

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