A New York federal grand jury and the Securities and Exchange Commission have issued subpoenas for a Congressional committee staff member who may have information about providing knowledge of Congressional action on health care policy to stock traders on Wall Street.  

The subpoenas were issued for documents, as well as the testimony of Brian Sutter , staff director of the Ways and Means subcommittee on health, according to an article  by Brody Mullins and Andrew Ackerman in the Wall Street Journal. On May 9th, Sutter notified  the House of Representatives he had received the New York subpoena.  

Under the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, government officials must not divulge confidential information which might affect stock prices. Last year, there was an increase in health insurance stocks just before an announcement of government action on Medicare payments.  

The Journal reported Mark Hayes, a former Senate employee before becoming a lobbyist, provided Height Securities with information on the government policy change, which he had obtained from other sources and his own analysis. Height Securities then issued an email notice to Wall Street clients.