The FBI has spent the past seven years mounting the largest crackdown on insider trading in American history.

The authorities call it “Operation Perfect Hedge” — and its results have been sweeping. Officials have charged a total of 83 people and four entities, winning at least 78 of those cases.

“We likened it to the first Jaws movie,” an FBI agent involved in the probe told FRONTLINE, “that we’re going to need a bigger boat.”

In November 2013, hedge fund giant SAC Capital agreed to plead guilty to what prosecutors called “insider trading that was substantial, pervasive, and on a scale without precedent in the history of hedge funds.”

To Catch a Trader goes inside the suspenseful and compelling story of this unprecedented government investigation.

Securing insider trading convictions is notoriously difficult. How is the FBI making it work? What investigative tactics are they using? Have these cases changed the culture, or are they just the start? Just how widespread is insider trading at Wall St. hedge funds?

We’ve asked correspondent Martin Smith and producer Nick Verbitsky to join us in a live chat to answer those questions — and take yours.

They’ll be joined by law professor and New York Times DealBook blogger Peter Henning. Follow him on Twitter @peterjhenning.

You can leave a question in the chat window below, and come by at 1 p.m. ET on 1/8 to join the live discussion.

We’d like to thank Dealbook for partnering with us on today’s chat.

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