NEW YORK, NY November 06, 2009 —Authorities have arrested seven more people in our area in a major anti-insider trading sweep, that began last month. WNYC's Ilya Marritz has the details.

REPORTER: The accused are mostly stock traders and corporate attorneys. Prosecutors say the lawyers gave confidential information about their clients, including the Hilton hotels chain, to traders who sought a competitive advantage on the stock market. They allegedly communicated using prepaid cell phones to avoid detection.

Prosecutors say the accused benefited from the information to the tune of at least $40 million. Last month, when six people connected with the Galleon hedge fund were arrested on insider trading charges, US Attorney Preet Bharara called it a "wake up call" for Wall Street. Since then, he says:

BHARARA: the alarm bells have grown only louder.

REPORTER: The Securities and Exchange Commission is also filing separate civil suits. For WNYC, I'm Ilya Marritz.

REPORTER: Lawyers for the accused say they're cooperating fully with authorities.