The US government has charged 13 Wall Street bankers and traders with receiving illegal kickbacks of more than $8m (€6m). Four have pleaded guilty and several face life imprisonment in the biggest case of its kind since the 1980s.

Those charged with criminal activity by the US Attorney's office in New York include Mitchel Guttenberg, 41, an executive director in the equity research department at UBS, as well as Randi Collotta, 30, an attorney formerly in the compliance department of Morgan Stanley in New York during the time of the alleged insider trading.