Cocaine Options

The trading is always fast and furious on the floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, where high-rolling speculators invest in options to buy securities at a set price for a certain length of time.

Last week agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, who had been watching the action carefully for more than a year, disclosed that something more than securities was being traded. They arrested five brokers, four clerks and three other financial professionals for selling cocaine at the same time they were working on the exchange floor.

The trendy, expensive drug (about $1,500 per oz. wholesale) is said to both heighten the senses and relax the user. That might have been useful in the intense atmosphere of the trading floor. A senior DEA official doubts that profits from the coke sales were being used by the traders to cover their losses on the risky market. Millions are made and lost each day on the exchange, but Board President William M. Smith assured investors that their money was in no greater jeopardy than usual. Said he: "Only a small number of individuals are involved."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.