An insider trading ring that federal prosecutors described as a "circle of friends" who together earned about $62 million in illegal gains in Dell, obtained their 4th confession from the supposed 7-person conspiracy. On Friday, Danny Kuo, 36, a former analyst at Whittier Trust Company, a South Pasadena, CA-based money-management firm pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the case during an appearance in Federal District Court in Manhattan.  He admitted to obtaining confidential information about Dell and Nvidia, the latter a computer-graphics company, which he passed along to his boss, who traded on the tips.  Whittier Trust avoided $78,000 in losses. Mr. Kuo, besides working as a research analyst, is currently pursuing his graduate degree in business at USC.  Mr. Kuo's lawyer said jos client is “relieved to close this chapter of his life and move on to what’s next." Remaining Three. Three remaining participants charged in the matter have maintained their innocence: Anthony Chiasson, co-founder of the now-defunct Level Global Investors; Todd Newman, a former portfolio manager at Diamondback Capital Management; and Jon Horvath, technology analyst at Sigma Capital, a unit of SAC Capital Advisors. Government's Findings and Allegations. The insider-trading ring allegedly started with Sandeep Goyal, a former Dell employee who moved to Wall Street and landed a job as a technology industry analyst with Neuberger Berman.  In that role, Mr. Goyal received secret information about Dell’s financial results from an employee at the company. Mr. Goyal, 39, in turn leaked the Dell information to his network of fellow stock pickers, a group that included Mr. Kuo.  On Friday, Mr. Kuo said that he obtained confidential financial data about Nvidia from a friend at another technology company, who in turn received it from an Nvidia employee. Mr. Goyal has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the government.  Also pleading guilty and cooperating with prosecutors are Jesse Tortora, a former trader at Diamondback; and Spyridon Andondakis, a former trader at Level Global. Level Global, which was raided by the FBI in 2010 and later closed down, made by far the largest profits in the supposed scheme, the government says.  On 1 Dell trade alone the firm allegedly made more than $50 million in profits. The U.S. attorney in Manhattan has secured more than 60 guilty pleas in its 2-year-old campaign to root out insider trading at hedge funds.   [Dealbook, 4/13/12]