"We're trying to push the envelope on a daily basis," said Diego Rodriguez, head of the FBI New York's criminal division who supervises units including securities and commodities fraud squad "It's not like we've never done it before, but it's now a different target set."

Chaves and Jacobs said that as innovative techniques were revealed in court testimony from trials, the bureau has had to continually revamp its approach.

For instance, when fund managers learned the FBI was listening in on their office calls, they moved to using disposable phones for their crimes and began passing inside information using Skype Technologies SA, Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc., Chaves said. The FBI has kept abreast by detecting encrypted inside information passed on social network sites, he said.

Undercover Video

In addition to Douglas's spot, the FBI today revealed an excerpt of an undercover surveillance video made by FBI agents in the case of Yonnie Sebbag, a California man who pleaded guilty in New York to selling confidential Walt Disney Co. information and was sentenced to 27 months in prison.

In the case, Sebbag sent letters in March 2010 to at least 33 investment companies, including hedge funds, offering to sell inside information about Burbank, California-based Disney.

"We're very happy to say that no one other than the FBI responded to this man," Chaves said.

The FBI sent an undercover agent posing as a corrupt fund manager who paid Sebbag for the nonpublic Disney documents which Sebbag later provided.

"I give you the information and you make the trades," Sebbag told the undercover agent in the video recording. He said he could provide "any informations that comes to executives like CEO, any information."

"What motivates me is money," Sebbag told the agent. "I want no jail time, thank you," he added, and laughed while folding his hands into a praying position.

Confused With SEC

Chaves said agents perceived there wasn't much public recognition of the FBI's role in bringing these cases. Some news accounts confused the SEC, which has a civil enforcement role, with the bureau's criminal law enforcement powers, such as raiding a hedge fund or placing handcuffs on suspects.