Institutional Investor magazine reports that the FBI is investigating a male individual claiming to be an SEC examiner who recently called six or seven hedge funds and asked questions about the funds' business. According to the article,

Kathryn McGrath, partner at Crowell & Moring in Washington, and a former SEC lawyer, said that in more than 17 years at the SEC she had never experienced this type of infraction. McGrath said that impersonating a federal official is a criminal act and one that would probably result in prison time--even for a first time offender. "These days, to pull off that impersonation the person is going to have to act unreasonable," McGrath added.