The bombshell revelations that the U.S. attorney in Manhattan is looking at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) investment bankers, among others, in a wide-ranging, ambitious insider trading probe has detonated with enough fury that prosecutors may be forced to file charges earlier than expected, reports the Washington Post. Before the news broke, prosecutors were planning to file charges within weeks, perhaps months. But now charges are said to be imminent.

The exact scope of the investigation is still not clear, though the media has generally implicated an array of consultants, investment bankers, hedge-fund and mutual-fund traders and analysts. Presumably, these parties constitute some sort of network through which material information was inappropriately released to investors.

The fact that Goldman healthcare bankers are said to be involved has guaranteed headlines. The WSJ has reported that prosecutors are examining healthcare consultants who may be providing confidential information to hedge funds and mutual funds. One subject is said to be Primary Global Research, a Mountain View, Calif., firm. The firm has said it is not a target.

We'll likely get a glimpse of it all soon. The details will be interesting. You have to wonder how long the probe has been active and whether wiretaps were involved. Certainly, insider trading is right back on top of the enforcement action list. All this occurs as the Raj Rajaratnam case remains on-going. The U.S. attorney and the SEC have bit off a huge load, and the stakes are high. They need some victories to erase the taint of the Bernard Madoff scandal.

For more:
- here's a Washington Post article

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