Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Marvell Technology Group Ltd. is conducting an internal investigation after employee Sam Miri was named as a recipient of payoffs for inside information by a hedge fund manager who pleaded guilty in the investigation of Galleon Group, company spokeswoman Diane Vanasse said.

Miri received payoffs in return for inside information, according to Ali Far, a hedge-fund manager who admitted to insider trading and is helping prosecutors in a probe of the industry.

Far told a judge while pleading guilty on Oct. 19 that he had paid Miri for tips. A transcript of that hearing became publicly available Nov. 11.

Vanasse declined to say if Miri had been placed on leave during the company’s inquiry. “All I can say is we’re looking into it,” she said yesterday.

A call to Miri’s home number wasn’t immediately returned. An e-mail to his work address was returned with a message saying he would be away from Nov. 3 to Nov. 10.

Far, 48, who once worked for Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam and co-founded Spherix Capital LLC in 2007, traded on inside information about companies including Atheros Communications Inc. from 2003 to 2009, he told the judge.

He didn’t specify what type of inside information Miri provided in exchange for payment. Tippers were paid in cash with money wired by Spherix’s broker to their accounts held at Phillip Capital, he told the judge.

Phillip Capital, a financial services firm, is affiliated with Singapore-based Phillip Securities.

Amy Foo, a spokeswoman at Phillip Securities Pte, and Far’s lawyer, Steven Kobre, didn’t return calls and e-mails seeking comment.

Marvell, which is located in Santa Clara, California, and registered in Hamilton, Bermuda, makes the processor that runs Blackberry smart phones.

The case is U.S. v. Far, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in New York at lsandler@bloomberg.net; David Glovin in New York federal court at dglovin@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 14, 2009 00:01 EST