Insider trading as a trade of companies’ stocks by persons who have access to the corporate non-public data is usually discussed as a legal problem that affects corporate finances. However, this issue has many aspects and dimensions because not all types of insider trading are discussed as illegal, and there are many factors that can lead to this situation. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the information on insider trading which was published on news websites and in newspapers and journals from January 6, 2017, to March 10, 2017.
The article by Soltes (2017) in Harvard Business Review discussed the problem of insider trading from the perspective of ethical decisions. According to Soltes (2017), such moral decisions as to the avoidance of insider trading in situations when people know something that can affect them or their relatives and friends are not easy to make in practice. The example is the decision of Sam Waksal, the former CEO of ImClone Systems, to inform his daughter about the problems in the company (Soltes, 2017). According to Walker (2017), almost all companies are at risk of being affected by insiders, even such giants as General Motors Company and other representatives of the automotive industry.
The review of the articles published in January supports this idea with reference to a range of insider trading cases discussed in the media. Amit Kanodia, a real estate entrepreneur working in Boston, was involved in the insider trading case in 2013, and he was sentenced to twenty months of imprisoning, as it has become known recently (Raymond, 2017). The more provocative case was discussed by Levintova (2017) in her article. Donald Trump’s candidate for the position of the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, became suspected to be involved in the insider trading situation. Ross has been discussed as a person who demonstrated financial misconduct and non-ethical behavior in several corporate cases.
Such situations can make analysts, financial consultants, and legal advisors provide the analysis of insider trading situations locally and globally. According to Talarico (2017), it is possible to expect positive changes in discussing and prosecuting insider trading cases in the future because of alterations in policies and legal standards. Whittemore and Fischer (2017) support this vision with the focus on changes in the U.S. laws according to which new approaches have been applied to the consideration of insider trading cases under the securities laws.
The review of articles published on the topic of insider trading in February has indicated that, currently, the corporate financial misconduct is an urgent problem that requires its solution because many persons find unique ways to avoid the punishment for their illegal activities (McEnery, 2017; Woodward, 2017). Thus, in the scandal associated with the SAC Capital and insider trading, Steven Cohen, as one of the fund’s leaders, has succeeded in avoiding negative effects of his misconduct (Gapper, 2017; Goodman, 2017). The article by Henning (2017) has provided the continuation of SAC Capital’s case with the focus on the laws applied to the discussion and resolution of the issue in courts. Deutsche Boerse has also stated that any claims about his insider trading activities are rather unfounded in their nature (Martin, 2017). Moreover, according to Pauli (2017), traders change their approaches to receiving profits, and they often choose to sell non-public information to hackers.
However, in contrast to the spread of insider activities, there are also ways to oppose the development of this tendency. Thus, the SEC chose to secure operations and freeze activities that can be associated with insider trading (Chunovic, 2017). More facts are also provided by Shaffer (2017) in the article on the efficient activities of regulators of securities in the United States. Another example of improvements in the sphere is that the fault of Sean Stewart, the former influential banker, was effectively proved in relation to his insider trading activities (Bolger, 2017). Legal prosecutions were also developed in the case of David Baazov, the former leader of Amaya Inc, who has successfully realized several insider trades (Menmuir, 2017).
While concentrating on cases of insider trading associated with famous people, it was also important to review the recent articles which provided the analysis of Martha Stewart’s situation in 2004. The article by Moffatt (2017) has presented a comprehensive discussion of differences between legal and illegal insider trading with reference to the example of Stewart and her situation. The details of this story are important to explain how the use of the non-public information for trading stocks or for informing other people about changes in the company, which are not publicly known, can be considered as an insider trading case.
The regular review of business articles on the topic of insider trading can provide a person interested in the problem with many details regarding the practical application of legal norms to such cases. Furthermore, it is also possible to learn how these cases are resolved globally in order to compare trends and approaches. Finally, the regular review of news and articles is important to remain focused on the problem and associated tendencies.
References
Bolger, T. (2017). Ex-Wall Street banker gets 3 years for insider trading. Long Island Press. Web.
Chunovic, L. (2017). SEC freezes broker’s accounts in insider trading scheme. Financial Technologies Forum News.
Gapper, J. (2017). How Steven Cohen survived an insider trading scandal. The Financial Times.
Goodman, A. (2017). Black edge: New Yorker’s Sheelah Kolhatkar on Wall Street’s biggest insider trading story in history. Alternet. Web.
Henning, P. (2017). Courts will define boundaries of friendship in insider trading. The New York Times.
Levintova, H. (2017). This insider trading case raises troubling questions about Trump’s commerce secretary nominee. Mother Jones.
Martin, B. (2017). Deutsche Boerse boss insists insider trading claims ‘unfounded’. Telegraph.
McEnery, T. (2017). Insider trading while posing as your mother is officially illegal. Deal Breaker.
Menmuir, T. (2017). Quebec AMF sets November date for Baazov ‘insider trading’ case. SBC News.
Moffatt, M. (2017). Martha Stewart’s insider trading case. ThoughtCo. Web.
Pauli, D. (2017). Dark web hubs paying workers to leak corporate secrets. The Register.
Raymond, N. (2017). Boston entrepreneur gets 20 months in prison for insider trading. Reuters.
Shaffer, L. (2017). US securities regulators freeze assets in suspected insider trading on Softbank-Fortress deal. CNBC News.
Soltes, E. (2017). Why it’s so hard to train someone to make an ethical decision. Harvard Business Review.
Talarico, G. (2017). Voices: Why insider trading is riskier than ever. On Wall Street.
Walker, H. (2017). Insider trading and recommendation alert: General Motors Company (NYSE:GM). Post Registrar. Web.
Whittemore, E., & Fischer, B. (2017). New guidance on “personal benefit” test of insider trading law. National Law Review.
Woodward, C. (2017). Second Cambridge biotech worker faces insider trading charge. Boston Globe.