SECURITIES

Defendants Plead Innocent to Insider Trading: Five defendants pleaded innocent to charges that they made more than $2 million from illicitly obtained stock tips about AT&T; Corp.’s takeover plans. The defendants, among 17 people named in the sweeping case unveiled by federal authorities last week, were released on bond after their arraignment in U.S. District Court in New York before U.S. Magistrate Nina Gershon. The scheme described by the U.S. attorney’s office and the SEC is one of the largest insider-trading cases since the 1980s takeover boom. Authorities allege that an employee in AT&T;’s labor relations department passed on secret information about pending takeover targets to a web of family and friends over several years.