National Public Radio’s Dina Temple-Raston this afternoon confirmed that two Bear Stearns’ hedge fund managers are to be indicted Thursday for misleading investors. The indictment was reported first in Monday’s Wall Street Journal but the timing of the indictments was unknown. Managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin are accused of “painting a rosy picture to investors…” while internally fretting over investments in mortgage backed securities. These indictments are likely to be the first of many stemming from the credit crisis. Messr. Cioffi and Tannin managed the two Bear Stearns hedge funds which collapsed last June, heralding the start of the credit crisis.
UPDATE: See The Wall Street Journal’s article “Prosecutors in Bear Case Zero (Focus) In On Email” from Thursday’s paper.