Hedge fund manager who sued prosecutors speaks out for the first time

David Ganek, whose hedge fund Level Global shut down in the wake of an insider trading investigation, said his lawsuit against prosecutors is about "transparency" and "accountability."

Level's offices were raided in 2010, and Ganek's co-founder Anthony Chiasson was eventually prosecuted for insider trading before the charges were reversed in 2014. Though Ganek was never charged with any wrongdoing, he says bad publicity from the raid led to the firm's 2011 closure.

He has since sued FBI agents and federal prosecutors, including the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan Preet Bharara, and the case was allowed to move forward earlier this year. Ganek claims the affidavit that led to the raid contained a "serious misrepresentation" about possible insider trading.

"There needs to be transparency here. My objectives for doing this first are about accountability," Ganek said Tuesday at the Delivering Alpha conference sponsored by CNBC and Institutional Investor.

Ganek said he came to work on the day of the 2010 raid to "commotion" and "confusion." He said Level had been "quite transparent" about its business, and it caused him to question prosecutors' objectives.

"It at least leaves me with only the issue of it being political … a pandering to what was going on in the world at that point in time," Ganek said, referencing anti-Wall Street sentiment at the time.

Ganek said he was told suing the government may prove futile but ultimately decided he had a "substantive case."