Hong Kong authorities have arrested eight people in their biggest coordinated market misconduct raids since 2017, as regulators investigate an alleged HK$315 million ($40 million) insider dealing and corruption scheme involving two major brokerages and a hedge fund manager, according to a Bloomberg report.

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission and the Independent Commission Against Corruption said in a joint statement Thursday that the operation, codenamed “Fuse,” targeted senior executives suspected of trading confidential information for bribes, the news agency said. 

The local offices of Citic Securities Co. and Guotai Junan International Holdings Ltd. were among those raided. Infini Capital Management Ltd., founded by Tony Chin, was also swept up in the probe, according to the report.

Raids were carried out at 14 locations on March 10 and 11, including company offices and private residences. Those detained included six men and two women, among them senior managers and a middleman, according to the report.

Investigators are looking into allegations that executives at the securities firms accepted more than HK$4 million in bribes from a hedge fund manager in exchange for leaking non-public details about share placements for several Hong Kong-listed companies, the news agency reported. 

Read more at Bloomberg