Insider trading investigation: House panel opposes giving SEC documents for probe

A US House of Representatives panel said on Friday it should not have to comply with a federal regulator's demand for documents sought for an insider-trading probe involving the staff director of a subcommittee and a lobbyist.

The House Ways and Means Committee argued in a court filing that US District Judge Paul Gardephe in New York should deny the Securities and Exchange Commission's attempt to subpoena documents from the committee and its healthcare subcommittee staff director Brian Sutter.

The SEC went to court on June 20 to enforce subpoenas it issued as it sought information related to a probe into whether Sutter leaked material nonpublic information about Medicare reimbursement rates to Mark Hayes, a lobbyist at Greenberg Traurig LLP.

THE POWER BATTLE

• The US House hasn’t complied with US SEC's requests for documents, phone records and testimony of aide Brian Sutter for more than a year
• Kerry W Kircher, the top lawyer for the House, said the SEC's request should be dismissed because the information it seeks concerns legislative activities protected by the Constitution, which can't be reviewed by federal judges
• SEC sought the subpoenas in an investigation testing the limits of federal insider-trading laws on whether the committee or staff members illegally passed on non-public information about a change in US healthcare policy

The committee's filing called the SEC subpoena "a remarkable fishing expedition for congressional records." It said the US Constitution shields the panel and Sutter from being compelled to testify or produce documents.

A request for comment from the SEC was not immediately returned.

The dispute between the House committee and the regulator could test the boundary of the SEC's powers to compel the legislative branch of government to cooperate with its enforcement of the federal securities laws.

In previous court filings, the SEC said Hayes spoke with Sutter the same day that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced reimbursement rates for the Medicare Advantage program.

The regulator said Hayes then emailed the brokerage firm Height Securities, which shortly afterward sent its clients a "flash alert" suggesting the deal could help insurance companies such as Humana Inc and Health Net Inc.

Share prices of both companies jumped after the report was issued.

The SEC will have until July 11 to respond to the committee's opposing arguments.