Carl Icahn is in hot water yet again.
This time, the billionaire and activist investor, as well as pro golfer Phil Mickelson and sports bettor Billy Walters are the targets of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Wall Street Journalreports authorities are looking into whether the three participated in illegal insider trading.
According to the report, authorities believe Icahn may have tipped off Walters about his investments some time during the last three years and that Walters, in turn, relayed some information to Mickelson. Icahn and Mickelson have denied knowledge of any such investigation and Walters has declined to comment, but authorities are reportedly examining Walters and Michelson’s trading behavior for clues.
Making his first public comments about the investigation, Mickelson told reporters Saturday that he has done “absolutely nothing wrong.”
“That is why I have been fully cooperating with the FBI agents, and I am happy to do so in the future, too, until this gets resolved,” Mickelson said. “But for right now I really can’t talk much about it.”
Mickelson is one of the all-time great golfers as the winner of five major golf championships and 42 PGA Tour titles. Icahn is known for buying up large stakes in companies and then pressuring their boards to sell off pieces of the business and fire top executives. It’s a tactic that has earned Icahn huge amounts of money along with lots of enemies.
The investigation is the merely the latest in the government’s clamp down on insider trading, which has led to 85 convictions and 90 guilty pleas since 2009.