FBI investigates US golfer and Wall Street mogul
CHAMPION US golfer Phil Mickelson and Carl Icahn, the richest man on Wall Street, are being investigated by the FBI over insider trading.
The FBI is looking into whether Mickelson and legendary Las Vegas gambler William Walters may have traded illegally on private information provided by Icahn about his investments in public corporations.
The investigation into the trio centres on what were described as suspicious trades in Clorox Co options days before Icahn announced a bid to acquire the company in 2011.
The joint FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inquiry is the latest case to emerge from a crackdown on insider trading by US authorities in the past few years.
It involves two of the highest-profile personali- ties in finance and sport: famously combative activist investor Mr Icahn and multiple US Masters champion Mr Mickelson.
Mr Walters, who plays golf with Mr Mickelson, is a well-known sports gambler who met Mr Icahn through a mutual acquaintance and struck up a friendship, according to Reuters.
Sources who have been briefed on the investigation claimed that Icahn had accumulated a 9.1% stake in Clorox in February 2011.
In July, he made an offer for the company that valued it at over $10bn and sent its stock soaring.
Mr Mickelson and Mr Walters made their Clorox trades as Mr Icahn was mounting his takeover bid for the company, which later failed, according to the International Business Times.
It is not known if Mr Mickelson knows Mr Icahn. The 78-year-old investor, with an estimated wealth of $23bn, would not have been breaking any laws if he revealed details of his takeover bid, unless it was in breach of confidentiality with his investors.
Sources have clained investigators are also looking into trades that Mr Mickelson and Mr Walters made related to Dean Foods Co.
Mr Icahn, Mr Mickelson and Mr Walters were not immediately available for comment. Spokesmen for the FBI and SEC declined to comment.
None of the three men has been accused of wrongdoing in the investigation, which started two years ago.