Four people were indicted in the First Jersey case.

A federal grand jury charged three employees of First Jersey Securities and one former employee with trying to obstruct investigations by the grand jury and by the SEC. The indictment contained what apparently were the first criminal charges to arise out of a decade of federal investigations of First Jersey, which the SEC has accused in a civil suit of securities fraud, authorities said. Three employees were charged with making false statements to the SEC as it was investigating the allegations that led to the suit, prosecutors said. The fourth, who no longer is with the company, was charged with perjury before the grand jury itself.