WALL STREET Foreign-currency traders arrested

Suspicious trades were worth millions of dollars.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Several dozen Wall Street traders suspected of foreign-currency exchange crimes have been arrested in a crackdown on a largely unregulated financial market, sources said.
U.S. Attorney James B. Comey was expected to announce the charges today. Traders were arrested beginning Tuesday.
Citing people familiar with the case, The Wall Street Journal reported today that traders at more than a dozen firms were to be charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and securities fraud.
In one case, employees at J.P. Morgan Chase & amp; Co. and UBS AG were accused of arranging deals in which their firms lost money but customers profited. The workers then accepted money from the customer firms, the newspaper said.
Both firms declined comment to the newspaper and did not immediately return calls by The Associated Press.
Two government sources confirmed to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that the raids were aimed at arresting people named in court papers filed under seal in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The sources said the trades were worth millions of dollars. One source said some investors were cheated by individuals who claimed to be making foreign-exchange trades when they were not.
FBI spokesman Joe Valiquette declined to comment, as did Michael Kulstad, a spokesman for Comey.
More arrests expected
At least 10 arrests were made during a raid at a downtown Manhattan office building, and other arrests were expected in other East Coast cities, one source said.
Forty-seven people were targeted in the probe, according to the newspaper and the cable network CNBC.
The currency exchange market has no central headquarters, instead operating 24 hours a day as a worldwide network of traders, connected by telephones and computers. There are three main centers of currency trading -- the United Kingdom, United States and Japan -- which handle about 60 percent of all volume.
In 2001, an estimated $1.2 trillion was traded daily, with banks conducting most of the trades. Currency brokers also play a role, acting as intermediaries between banks. But no regulatory body sets trading rules.