Broadband's Kinnucan gets subpoena in probe
John Kinnucan, the owner of an independent research firm that has been implicated in a major insider trading investigation, said he received a subpoena on Friday morning to provide federal prosecutors with documents dating back to January 2008.
Kinnucan said in a telephone interview with Reuters that the subpoena was personally served on him at his Portland, Oregon home by an FBI agent. The agent appeared at Kinnucan's home as his children were getting ready to go to school.
The owner of Broadband Research, Kinnucan said he had no plans to hire a lawyer because he did not want to bankrupt his family in the process.
The Feds have been taping my calls, they know who my clients are, he said.
He said he had asked his former clients to contribute to a legal defense fund. Kinnucan said so far he has not received any contributions.
Broadband Research is largely a one-man research operation that provides clients with insight into how new products and business divisions are doing at technology companies.
The BusinessInsider blog first reported that Kinnucan had received a subpoena.
Kinnucan became something of a celebrity after refusing to cooperate with the investigation and notifying all his clients and industry contacts in an email last month. Several of the hedge funds and mutual funds that did business with him have been served with subpoenas.
My clients are not some scummy fly-by-night hedge funds, said Kinnucan, who insisted the kind of information on technology companies he provided his clients was perfectly legitimate.
Kinnucan sent his October email to more than 50 people associated with roughly 20 hedge funds and mutual funds. He said he rebuffed the FBI's demand he cooperate and secretly record conversations, people familiar with the situation said.
Some of the current and former Kinnucan clients that have received subpoenas include Citadel and SAC Capital. Mutual fund companies Janus Capital Group Inc
Wellington, where as many as five employees received copies of Kinnucan's email, said on Friday it is not a target of the investigation. Janus said on Thursday it is not a target of the inquiry. SAC Capital has said it is cooperating, while Citadel has declined to comment.
FBI spokesman Jim Margolin declined to comment.
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