(Adds additional excerpt from recorded conversations)
April 6 (Reuters) - A lawyer and a trader were charged on Wednesday with conspiring to trade on corporate merger secrets in one of the largest insider trading cases in the United States. Prosecutors said they stole confidential merger information from three prominent law firms.
Federal prosecutors said Matthew Kluger, a former lawyer at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, regularly stole information about anticipated deals. He is accused of passing the tips to an unnamed co-conspirator, who then supplied them to trader Garrett Bauer with instructions on how to trade, according to the criminal complaint. [ID:nN06204005]
Following are excerpts of telephone conversations quoted in the court complaint, secretly recorded after the FBI had searched the co-conspirator's home and asked about suspicious trades:
BAUER AND CO-CONSPIRATOR DISCUSSING POSSIBLE ARRESTS:
Bauer: "Don't worry about any money (name of co-conspirator). At some point in the future when this is cleared up, you will have whatever you need... I am sitting with over $20 million in the bank.... I am not worried about me going broke... If you need to pay for more lawyers, use everything you have."
Co-conspirator: "OK, I will, I am glad you, I'm glad you mentioned that. And if I go to jail, would you ... is there any chance you might help (co-conspirator's spouse) out?"
Bauer: "Of course ... You, your kids, everything, it will be set."
DISCUSSING WHAT TO DO WITH $175,000 IN CASH THAT HAD BAUER'S FINGERPRINTS ON IT:
Bauer: "You know what, you know what, if you feel better, burn the money and I'll give it back to you."
Co-conspirator: "Burn it?"
Bauer: "I would burn it in a fire...."
Co-conspirator: "You know something, that - that's foolish."
LATER CONVERSATION ABOUT THE $175,000:
Bauer: "We have to get the fingerprints off that money."
Co-conspirator: "Yeah."
Bauer: "Like you wearing gloves or something and wiping every bill down or something. But it has to be done. Or as, like, you giving it to me and me wiping every bill down or something."
Co-conspirator: "You know something. Somebody did say, 'Why don't you just run it through a dish-, a washing machine?'"
Bauer: "Well, I, I don't know. I mean, I've seen that in the movies but I don't know."
KLUGER ASKING WHAT CO-CONSPIRATOR'S ATTORNEY IS ADVISING:
Kluger: "So, what he's telling you is that you should flip, right? That's what, that's what I mean all these guys do -- that's all they ever do."
Co-conspirator: "Yeah, no."
Kluger: "Unless you get one that used to work for the mob or something... That's all these former prosecutors know." (Reporting by Dena Aubin; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)