Insider Trading Investigation Could Have Effect On Metro Detroit Business

(WWJ) -- According to reports from The New York Times and CBS News, the FBI and SEC are pursuing a major insider-trading probe that's looking at the trading of investor Carl Icahn, pro golfer Phil Mickelson and Las Vegas bettor William Walters.

WWJ and FOX2's Murray Feldman explained that the investigation of Icahn could have a ripple effect in the Metro Detroit area.

"Carl Icahn has positions in many companies -- no word the one or ones involved in this reported insider trading probe," Feldman said. "Carl Icahn's company owns 80 percent of Southfield-based Federal-Mogul, a supplier to the auto, aerospace and rail industries."

Icahn currently serves as the non-executive chairman of Federal-Mogul.

"His stock took a hit in January and has since fallen from the $23 level to under $17 a share," Feldman continued. "For the record, Icahn said he knows of no investigation, is always careful to observe legal requirements in all activities and he calls news of the probe 'speculative' and 'inflammatory'."

The New York Times reported that people close to the investigation said that authorities are questioning the role, if any, Icahn may have had in sharing stock information about the company, Clorox.

The Federal-Mogul World Headquarters is located in Southfield on Northwestern Highway and also has almost 100 manufacturing and 17 distribution sites worldwide.