Problems at Market Street Partners go a little deeper than mere incompetence.
Colleagues Finger Billionaire
In the case of Google, the SEC civil complaint said that a person the agency identified as Tipper A received information in 2007 about an impending earnings shortfall from an unnamed employee of Market Street Partners, a San Francisco investor-relations firm. The SEC complaint said that Tipper A provided the information to Mr. Rajaratnam and that Galleon executed trades designed to profit on a decline in Google stock, netting $9 million.

The SEC complaint said the informant at Market Street demanded $100,000 to $150,000 a quarter to keep supplying Tipper A with information, but Tipper A refused and the informant stopped providing tips.

Google declined to comment. Market Street said it hadn't been contacted by any authority, adding that it fully supports the prosecution of insider trading and will provide any necessary aid in the investigation.