FBI settles wiretap lawsuit

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation has agreed to settle a lawsuit over wiretaps that allegedly captured intimate phone calls between convicted exGalleon Group LLC trader Craig Drimal and his wife.

The settlement comes as an FBI agent faces a criminal probe for leaking details of a separate insider- trading investigation to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. In that case, Las Vegas gambler Billy Walters may try to escape insider-trading charges based on the leaks, which a federal judge said left him feeling “shocked.”

Arlene Villamia Drimal sued 16 current and former FBI agents who tapped Drimal’s phone in an insider trading investigation that also brought down Galleon Group co- founder Raj Rajaratnam. The agents “wrongfully i ntercepted” more than 180 private calls between her and her husband from November 2007 to January 2008, Arlene Drimal said in her complaint, filed in 2012. Arlene Drimal claimed the agents were required to stop listening to wiretaps once it became apparent they were between husband and wife. Such conversations are considered confidential and can’t be used in court.

Agents improperly listened to many of the calls, including one instance the U.S. Attorney in New York later characterized in court papers as “indefensible,” according to Arlene Drimal’s complaint. Arlene Drimal didn’t make the content of the calls public, other than to say that many “involved deeply personal and intimate issues.”

The settlement was disclosed in a Dec. 5 court filing in which government lawyers said the agreement was approved by the FBI.