Federal authorities have recently been portraying the 2003-launched Primary Global Research (PGR) - which has over the years earned repute among hedge funds for connecting investors with technology-industry experts – as a ‘hub’ of inside information.

According to the charges made public against a PGR employee and four PGR consultants on Thursday, some of the people associated with the company have been using their connections for stepping over the legal line.

The charges chiefly result from a three-year federal investigation which was initiated to access whether PGR and other so-called “expert-network” firms have been leaking material nonpublic information from corporations to investors.

These experts firms are supposedly ‘paid’ by hedge funds and mutual funds for arranging consulting sessions with public-sector employees, for the purposes of general market research. In addition, the firms also offered services like customized research reports, field trips to Asia for clients, and meals at major conferences with experts.

Going by the allegations leveled by the prosecutors, PGR employees linked investment clients to technology-company insiders, who ‘sold’ business secrets about some high-profile tech firms, including Apple, Advanced Micro Devices, Dell, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.

Noting that the experts were paid hundreds of dollars or more per hour, Janice Fedarcyk, an assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said on Thursday: “The more than $400,000 the firm paid the four 'consultants,' merely to participate in phone calls with firm clients, is an indication of the value placed on the information.”