New York probing Bloomberg reporters’ access to information

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office is looking into how much access Bloomberg reporters may have had to information about the media and technology company’s customers, said people familiar with the inquiries.

Katy Burne of The Wall Street Journal writes, “Officials in the New York Attorney General’s investor protection unit in recent weeks have queried Bloomberg about reporters’ knowledge of terminal subscribers’ activities, said the people. The Attorney General’s office has not opened a formal investigation into the Bloomberg practices, said one of the people familiar with the probe.

“A Bloomberg spokesman had no comment on any interaction with the Attorney General’s office. Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, competes with Bloomberg in financial news.

“The New York Attorney General’s probe follows inquiries made in May by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury into Bloomberg customer data access, as previously reported in The Wall Street Journal. The status of these probes is unclear.

“Bloomberg terminals are widely used by traders in the world’s largest financial centers, with more than 315,000 subscribers globally, according to a spokesman for the company. Subscribers pay $20,000 per year for access to the terminal services.”

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