In the largest operation of its kind, the federal government announced Tuesday it has smashed a global ring of 32 hackers and stock traders who for five years were trading on inside information contained in corporate press releases not yet made public. The defendants allegedly made more than $100 million in illegal profits.

“This international scheme is unprecedented in terms of the scope of the hacking, the number of traders, the number of securities traded and profits generated,” said a statement from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White.

The accused are said to have hacked into earnings reports and other press reports that were being held for release by PR Newswire in New York, Marketwired in Toronto and Business Wire in San Francisco. The releases usually were made public the same day, but after the market closed. But the defendants allegedly had access to the information for as little as 36 minutes or as long as three days before it was released.