By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Holiday arrests are coming for dozens of Wall Street insider traders as a three-year investigation comes to a close, according to reports.
Federal authorities are preparing charges for investment bankers, attorneys, fund managers, consultants and analysts across the country, the Wall Street Journal said.
"Prosecutors particularly like the pressure that perp walks have on families and friends during the holidays," attorney Bill Singer told the New York Post. "This is going to be the big target of the federal prosecutors in 2011 and the next several weeks," he added.
Investigators believe attorneys who handled sensitive Wall Street deals may have shared information for money, and that consultants offered insider information to investors.
Some traders at trading firm First New York profited by anticipating health-care and other mergers unveiled in 2009, people familiar with the firm told the Journal.
The investigation, headed by Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara and the Securities and Exchange Commission, ordered several firms to hand over transaction records, and compared them with news reports to see if any were carried out before official announcements were made, according to the Journal.