Live-Blog: The Insider Trading Arrests Press Conference

12:41 PM: U.S. Attorney says he is standing behind his case and ends the press conference there.

12:40 PM U.S. Attorney won't comment on whether more people have come forward about Galleon. Someone whispers in his ear before he declines to comment.

12:39 PM: U.S. Attorney says Deep Shah not in custody, doesn't speculate where he is.

12:37 PM: Q and A time. U.S. Attorney is getting peppered.

Asked how it all ties together and leaves it pretty much to the documents already out there.

12:35 PM U.S. Attorney says he's made an effort not to charge people who have come close to the line - but those that have galloped way past it.

12:31 PM The hot press conference room is lined with dark-suited attorneys and officials. A solid press turnout is here - no fewer than eight TV cameras.

12:29 PM SEC says it has caught "Octopussy." SEC enforcement boss Khuzami says that's what people called Zvi Goffer because "he had his arms in so many insider" trading schemes.

At one point the defendents bit in half a cell phone chip to destroy the evidence.

12:24 PM U.S. Attorney Bharara says today the warning bell on Wall Street should be ringing louder as he announces a host of new defendants and charges for insider trading.

"This case goes to the very heart of fair play in the business world," he says.

Bharara says sophisticated criminals "took a page from" drug dealers in using pre-paid cellphones and this prompted authorities to deploy wire taps.

He vows to find out how much insider trading is really going on out there.

12:17 EST U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is about to start press conference. Also there: SEC enforcement director Robert Khuzami and the FBI's Joseph M Demarest Jr., who's in charge of the New York field office.

They've dubbed it Insider Trading II and it comes with colorful charts laying out the total $40 million the accused are alleged to have made.

Details on wiretaps huge profits and a growing list of defendants coming soon from NY.

(Wall Street Journal Online link: http://blogs.wsj.com/dispatch/2009/11/05/ coming-live-blog-on-insider-trading-presser/)

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  11-05-091257ET
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