Well, well, the SEC actually starts a case. Been so long one forgets they have this authority.

Federal prosecutors charged former Citigroup banker Maher Kara with securities fraud for tipping his brother about upcoming mergers, in an insider trading scheme that reaped more than $6 million in illegal profits.

Federal regulators also filed civil charges Thursday against the brothers and six other friends and relatives for allegedly participating in the scheme which spanned from New York to California and the Midwest for three years or more.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said that Maher Kara, a former director in Citigroup Global Markets' investment banking division in New York, repeatedly told his brother Michael about upcoming healthcare industry deals from at least April 2004 through April 2007.