A forklift operator is one of 13 people charged in a USD6.7 million insider-trading conspiracy that involved Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch employees.

It is the first insider-trading scandal to touch Merrill and Goldman, two of the world's largest securities firms, in more than two years, the Charlotte Observer reported.

On Tuesday, the FBI arrested Eugene Plotkin, 26, a Goldman Sachs Group analyst, and Stanislav Shpigelman, 23, a Merrill Lynch & Co mergers and acquisitions division analyst.

Milwaukee forklift operator Juan Renteria, 20, was arrested and accused of working at a printing plant to steal copies of Business Week magazine before it was available to the public.

US attorney Michael Garcia said Renteria provided the Wall Street analysts with tips on what would appear in Business Week's "Inside Wall Street" column.

Merrill Lynch analyst Shpigelman provided information on pending mergers or acquisitions in exchange for cash, according to a criminal complaint filed in a Manhattan court.

Plotkin and David Pajcin, a former Goldman Sachs employee, made around USD6.4 million trading on Shpigelman's tips while information from Renteria allowed them to make USD340,000 by trading in 20 stocks just before the stocks received favourable mentions in Business Week, Garcia said.

Mark Schonfeld, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s regional director, said:
"We've never seen before a case involving so many different attempts to obtain information illegally."

The SEC brought civil charges against 13 people. The Wall Street analysts allegedly enlisted exotic dancers to coax stock tips from investment bankers. Pajcin's aunt, a 63-year-old Croatian retired seamstress also faced an SEC charge.