German police launch insider trading raids Police across Europe have raided dozens of properties in several countries as part of an investigation by German authorities into insider trading, market manipulation and stock fraud, the Munich state prosecutor's office said. The aim of the operation was to find evidence against "a fair number" of people, who are suspected of possible involvement in "share-price manipulation" by withholding information or publishing false facts, a spokesman said. The prosecutor's office declined to give any information about the identity of the suspects, as no one had been charged with wrongdoing. But it did not appear that any employees of financial institutions were involved. The investigators, who have a reputation for fighting penny-stock scams, on Wednesday raided 53 sites in Germany, and asked European colleagues to search another 29. Four locations were targeted in countries outside Europe. The prosecutors in southwestern Germany scored a victory recently when a court convicted a group of people who used a stock market tipsheet - used by small-time private investors - to influence the price of stock that the group owned. Prosecutors now planned to sift through the material obtained in the raids, the spokesman said, adding that their "quite sizeable" investigation looked set to continue for several months yet. Further raids were also said to be possible.