←back to thread

Insider trade on Splunk acquisition?

(twitter.com)
417 points mkmk | 1 comments | 21 Sep 23 15:58 UTC | HN request time: 0.204s | source
Show context
kypro ◴[21 Sep 23 18:16 UTC] No.37601673[source]▶
I know this isn't what happened, but what if one day I'm waiting for the bus and I over hear a guy talking on their phone about an imminent acquisition?

1. Would that still fall under insider trading even if the information was accidentally heard, and even if I wasn't 100% sure of its accuracy?

2. If I had no clear connection to the company how would it be proven that I was trading on insider information? Surely it's not enough just to say the trade was statistically unlikely, or is it?

replies(15): >>37601721 #>>37601730 #>>37601752 #>>37601767 #>>37601801 #>>37601931 #>>37602055 #>>37602097 #>>37602107 #>>37602179 #>>37602306 #>>37602419 #>>37602589 #>>37602619 #>>37602877 #
1. rvz ◴[21 Sep 23 18:42 UTC] No.37602097[source]▶
Doesn't matter. That is still inside information and you can't trade it. Otherwise you'll end up just like this guy [0] and all the others who thought they could get away with it. Doesn't matter who.

The amount of HNers attempting to defend illegal trades like this is mind-boggling. Those in Congress should also be investigated over their suspiciously timed trades and as long as they are working in Congress, they should not be doing such trading at all.

There are no excuses for it.

[0] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/ex-lawmaker-c...