The secondary markets where shareholders of hot private companies like Facebook and Twitter can sell shares their could be facing greater government scrutiny, according to multiple news reports.

The New York Times published a story last night stating that the Securities and Exchange Commission a4��Ahas sent information requests to several participants in the buying and selling of stocka4��� in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Zynga. The story didna4��a4�t have many details about the investigation, and it was a bit strange when SecondMarket, the leading marketplace for these types of shares, said today that it has not been contacted by the SEC.

A spokesperson from SharesPost, a similar marketplace, declined to comment on the Times story when I emailed them, except to say that a4��Asince its launch, SharesPost has made efforts to keep the SEC&'s Staff apprised of the evolution of its marketplace and we have made every effort to structure our activities to be compliant with previous.a4���

Now the Wall Street Journal has more details about whoa4��a4�s being investigated and why. The SEC is a4��Afocusing partlya4��� on the funds that pool investors together to buy these private company shares, allowing them purchase shares companies over the 500-shareholder threshold. If the threshold is crossed, private companies are required to disclose more information to the public. The SEC is also looking at whether the tech companies are meeting their financial reporting requirements and at whether the people selling shares (who are often former employees) need to be registered broker-dealers, the Journal says.

To be clear, it sounds like this is all very preliminary &8212' a spokesperson for one of the funds mentioned by the Journal said ita4��a4�s premature even call this an a4��Ainvestigationa4���. But ita4��a4�s certainly that as these markets grow, the government is taking notice.

[image via Flickr/Jacob Ehnmark]

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Tags: secondary markets

Companies: Facebook, linkedin, SecondMarket, Sharespost, Twitter, Zynga

Tags: secondary markets

Companies: Facebook, linkedin, SecondMarket, Sharespost, Twitter, Zynga

Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

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