On seven other occasions, the prosecutors continued, the trades by Broadsword involved shares of Kidde - and produced profits of $2.5 million for the Broadsword accounts.

"One advantage of a deal involving shares is that it might not be a taxable event," Mr. Wolzien, the analyst, said.

Secondary offerings may involve shares sold by existing shareholders (non-dilutive), new shares (dilutive) or both.

"There should always be an economic trade-off, so a repricing should always involve fewer shares."

The answer: disclosure of a stock manipulation scheme involving shares of Fireman's Fund - previously unknown to the investigators -which opened a new front in the inquiry.

The public offering, the first for Reader's Digest, does not involve employee-owned non-voting shares.

Phase 1 of the deal will involve selling shares in the Nasdaq stock market.

Rather, it involves shares in the co-op corporation that owns the building where the defaulting apartment buyer lives.

This contrasts with schemes that involve shares for employees.

Determining the price was tricky because it would involve shares in Hilton's gambling operation, which does not exist yet.