By Joe Palazzolo
Insider trading: FBI officials said Monday they are seeking to build insider-trading cases against roughly 120 individuals on and off Wall Street. The disclosure marked the first time authorities have quantified the number of people under scrutiny in an expanding criminal insider-trading investigation that has shaken the financial and corporate worlds. WSJ
Puppet’s court: We’ve featured it here, and now the WSJ gets the story behind an Ohio television station’s decision to recreate, on air, one of the state’s biggest corruption trials with puppets.
Writes the WSJ’s Douglas Belkin: “The result is a cross between ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘The Muppet Show’ that has elicited some complaints from viewers and hand-wringing from journalism professors. But since the trial began in January, ‘The Puppet’s Court’ has led a ratings surge for the station’s late news show and won praise from some politicians.”
Pot on the ballot: An initiative to legalize possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana qualified for the November ballot in Colorado yesterday. Volokh Conspiracy via the Denver Post
Deepwater Horizon: Settlement talks between BP PLC and lawyers for thousands of individuals and businesses who say they were damaged by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are focused on roughly $ 14 billion left in a $ 20 billion compensation fund BP set up in 2010. WSJ
Defense rests: Lawyers defending R. Allen Stanford rested their case in his fraud trial Monday, deciding against having the former financier take the stand in U.S. district court in Houston. WSJ