NY guilty plea in insider trading networking probe

NEW YORK – The first person arrested in the insider trading probe of expert networking firms has entered a guilty plea in federal court in New York.

Don Chu entered the plea in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday. He is among 13 people charged so far in a probe of those in the securities industry who give out inside information instead of legitimate research.

Chu became the ninth person to plead guilty to charges in connection with the investigation. The probe was unveiled last fall when Chu was arrested.

Chu, of Somerset, N.J., was born in Taiwan but became a U.S. citizen in 1997. He was accused of passing along secrets about a technology company to hedge fund workers. Chu was a consultant with Primary Global Research, a California networking firm.