It’s clearly insider when a company’s high-level executive trades on pending earnings data not yet released to the public. It’s clearly not insider trading when you count cars in a retailer’s parking lot to get insight to sales. A recent SEC case falls somewhere in the middle. The Securities and Exchange Commission brought charges against … Read more »
Category: Insider Trading
Another Tale of Golf Course Stock Tips Ending Up in a Sand Trap of Insider Trading
The Securities and Exchange Commission brought another insider trading case where the tips were allegedly traded on the golf course. “Country clubs or similar venues may give people a false sense of security that leads them to think they can get away with trading on unlawful stock tips,” said Paul G. Levenson, director of the … Read more »
A Cliche Is Proven
One cliche thrown around is that tipping a golf buddy to material non-public information is an insider trading violation. The Securities and Exchange Commission just filed a case that proved that cliche true. Eric McPhail learned the expected earnings and major pending corporate developments at American Superconductor through a friend who is (was?) an executive … Read more »
Cleaning Up An Oil Spill Is Insider Trading
Keith A. Seilhan was 20-year employee of BP and a senior responder during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Seilhan directed BP’s oil skimming operations and its efforts to contain the expansion of the oil spill. What he saw scared him so he sold his entire portfolio of BP stock. The Securities and Exchange Commission … Read more »
Do Law Firms Need Compliance Programs? Part 2
Earlier this month it was accounting fraud. This week it’s insider trading. Law firms seem to pose the same risks as any other firm. Do as I say; Not as I do. A clerk at a law firm trolled the document management system for information on mergers when the firm was representing one of the … Read more »
The Darth Vader Defense to Insider Trading
Frank Hixon Jr. is trying to evade insider trading charges by denying he knew his father. His father is not a malevolent cyborg. His name is even easier to decipher than Darth Vader; It’s Frank Hixon Sr. Hixon is challenging the charges so I have only the government’s version of the facts. Perhaps he has … Read more »
Working on the Railroad is Not Insider Trading
Gary Griffiths was a vice president and chief mechanical officer at Florida East Coast Railway. Cliff Steffes was a trainman at the Bowden Rail Yard for the company and the nephew of Gary. Gary and Cliff noticed there was a surprising number of tours of the rail yard by men in suits. Gary’s boss asked … Read more »
You Can’t Hide Your Insider Trading in Your Spouse’s Account
Steven M. Dombrowski was the former director of internal audit at Allscripts Healthcare Solutions. Through his position he learned that the company’s first quarter 2012 financial results were much worse than expected. Despite restrictions, he decided to profit from his company’s misfortune. He clearly knew that he couldn’t trade in the stock, so he decided … Read more »
The SEC Tries to Make an International Case on Insider Trading
The BHP – Potash merger in 2010 was a bit leaky. The SEC has an ongoing investigation into suspicious trading ahead of the the August 17, 210 public announcement of BHP Billiton’s acquisition of Potash Corporation. The latest SEC points the SEC’s accusatory finger at two Spanish citizens. At first I though the SEC had … Read more »
The Leaky Merger and Insider Trading
On December 21, 2009, Sanofi-Aventis, a French pharmaceutical company, announced a tender offer for Chattem, a Tennessee-based distributor of over-the-counter pharmaceutical products, at the price of $93.50 per share. Shares of Chattem closed 32.60% higher than the prior trading day’s close of $69.98 and volume increased more than 3,000% to 10.3 million shares. This may … Read more »