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Insider trading unethical
Effects of illegal insider trading
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Illegal insider trading is when non public corporate information has influenced a trade when someone buys or sells. When someone uses this information it allows them to gain an unfair advantage over other investors causing the market to gain or lose money. If insider trading were allowed then people that invested would no longer feel confident to invest. The legal way to gain an advantage over other investors would be for them to obtain skills in analyzing and understanding accessible information. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, "Under Rule 10b5-1, the SEC defines insider trading as any securities transaction made when the person behind the trade is aware of nonpublic material information, and is hence violating his or her duty to maintain confidentiality of such knowledge"(Reem Heakal).
An insider consists of someone who is accessible to information that has not yet been released to the public. These include CEO’s, executives, and directors that are exposed to the information. Insiders that also may have to keep quit consist of Accountants and Investment Bankers. According to the article by Reem Heakal, "In the second part of Rule 10b5-2, the SEC has outlined three nonexclusive instances that call for a duty of trust or confidentiality: (1) when a person expresses his or her agreement to maintain confidentiality, (2) when history, pattern and/or practice show that a relationship has mutual confidentiality and (3) when a person hears information from a spouse, parent, child or sibling (unless it can be proven that such a relationship has not and does not give rise to confidentiality)" (Reem Heakal).
It all began about a year after Martha Stewart sold 3,928 ImClone shares in late 2001 a day before a rigid slow down sent the stock tumbling. The stock market world was waiting for the FDA to make a decision on Erbitux. The pharmaceutical company ImClone was denied for a new drug Erbitux, which the company promised to be a cancer drug. Marta Stewart received information from her broker Peter Bacanovic to sell her stock. Bacanovic unlawful inside tip was that other clients of his which included CEO of ImClone Samuel Waksal and his daughter, where selling all of their stock in ImClone that was held by Merrill Lynch. Waksal knew at the time of his order to sell that the FDA was not going to approve the Erbituz application.
First, what crime did Martha Stewart commit? Before answering this question, I would like to briefly explain and identify the nature and some of the developments of the case. The troubles started when Stewart sold approximately 3,928 of her shares on the company called ImClone System on December 27, 2001. According to (Sullum, 2004), Stewart sold ...
Confidentiality has several different levels that include employee, management, and business information. Employee data includes personal identifying information, disability and medical information, etc. Keeping this material confidential is important because the information could lead to criminal activity to include fraud or discrimination; this can result in decreased productivity and affect employee morale. Management information covers impending layoffs, terminations, workplace investigation of employee misconduct, etc. It should go without saying that sensitive data should only be available to management. Lastly, the business portion includes business plans, company forecasts, and special ingredients/recipes, information that would not be readily available to competitors. Employees and managers should receive training on how to properly handle confidential information (Jules Halpern Associates, LLC,
Jeffery Archer is accused of insider trading with the shares of Anglia TV. Jeffery bought shares for the “inside information” of the companies dealing account, the day after the last board meeting but before the bid was announced. He should have known that even if he found out insider information from his wife the law makes it clear that he cannot deal or trade with that stock. It would be considered unfair to the rest of the shareholders, because other shareholders would not have the same information like Jeffery. As we know the buying and selling of shares must be based on public information
Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic were indicted on criminal charges arising from Martha Stewarts December 27, 2001 sale of 3,928 shares of stock in ImClone Systems, Inc. ("ImClone"). ImClone is a biotechnology company whose then-chief executive officer, Samuel Waksal, was a friend of Stewart's and a client of Stewart's stockbroker at Merrill Lynch, defendant Peter Bacanovic. On December 25, 2001, ImClone learned that the Food and Drug Administration had rejected the company's application for approval of Erbitux, a cancer-fighting drug. On December 28, the day after Stewart sold her shares; ImClone publicly announced that the Erbitux application had been rejected. Shortly after ImClone's announcement, the Securities and Exchange Commission "SEC" and the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York launched investigations into trading in ImClone stock in advance of the announcement to the public of the news about Erbitux.
“Bernie Madoff began investing in penny stocks in 1960, and due to his impressive work ethic, received several big breaks. The first of which was his father in-law loaning him $50,000 to invest, and soon after, Carl Shapiro, a man who made his fortune in women’s clothing gave Madoff $100,000 to invest on his behalf” (Collins 2011). With this kick-start, Bernie quickly began making a name for him, especially as he promised clients a guaranteed 20% annual return on investment. This, coupled with his firm’s adoption of the latest technology made them a tour-de-force in the investment world. But what makes his eventual downfall more interesting is that he was not just a crook, Madoff did manage a successful, and legitimate brokerage firm. To some extent, the credibility he earned from these legitimate busines...
In other words, its buying and selling of securities that has obtained non-public material information, and in Martha’s case she was guilty of it. “However in an interesting legal technicality, Martha Stewart did not necessarily breach a fiduciary duty to the other investors, since she had no real obligations to inform other investors, which would be the case if she were an officer with company (US SEC, 2009). This being said, if she confessed her actions were wrong, she would not have been convicted of insider trading. Insider trading can be either legal or illegal due to the nature and the timeframe. This was not the road that Martha Stewart decided to take. ‘She instead chose to collide with her broker in an attempt to barricade a story about how there was a standing order for Ms. Stewart to sell her shares” (US SEC, 2009). Martha Stewart had knowledge on the ethics surrounding trading of stock having already been a CEO, she should have known what she was doing, but one can argue that due to her crazy work life, she simply did no think about it. It shows that she is not engaging in illegal behavior. “Martha Stewart displayed her morality lies when lying to the US authorities even thought this was obviously illegal and unethical; her action can also be analyzed through egoism philosophy where right or acceptable behavior defined in terms of consequences to the individual, regarding maximizing self0interest” (Carr, 2002). Martha Stewart thought she did everything right, but still did not bother to warn the shareholders. If insider trading had not taken place, it would be less of a crime, but her actions indicated unethical behavior and define lack of integrity, and lying to Federal investigators only made it
Everywhere you look, there she is. Martha Stewart has invaded every avenue of domesticity. Her "radiant presence... seems to be infinite, like that of the Almighty, or of Starbucks" (Lippert & Ferguson: 26*) The outposts of her "omnimedia empire" are quite fortified (Africannet page). Reigning over a vast technical spectrum, her multi-million, multi-media kingdom includes a magazine with a circulation of 1.2 million, a syndicated column, and a TV show with audience of 5.3 million, but she does not have an official web site (Lippert & Ferguson: 26). There are numerous webpages that fans and foes have dedicated to her.
There are many instances of insider trading that have taken place in the U.S. stock exchange. The Federal Reserve and The Federal Government have clearly stated that insider trading undermines the law and is illegal, but individuals insider trade anyway.
Many businesses that achieve great success become greedy and want more. Pharmaceutical companies, such as Turing, have been overpricing life-saving drugs since they’ve been discovered. Martin Shkreli, the CEO of the company that raised the price of the H.I.V medicine, was arrested because of wrongdoings involving his former hedge fund and a pharmaceutical company he previously headed. He has been charged with conspiracy to commit security fraud, wire fraud, and using his previous company to cover personal debts. U.S. Attorney Robert Capers says, “As alleged in the indictment, Shkreli essentially ran his companies like a Ponzi scheme, where he used each subsequent company to pay off the defrauded investors in the prior company” (Shkreli).
Bernard Madoff opened his firm in 1960. His business began to grow when his father-in-law Saul Alpern, who was an accountant, came to the firm. Because there were a lot of competitive firms at that time, Madoff decided to use innova...
Jordan Belfort is the notorious 1990’s stockbroker who saw himself earning fifty million dollars a year operating a penny stock boiler room from his Stratton Oakmont, Inc. brokerage firm. Corrupted by drugs, money, and sexuality he went from being an innocent twenty – two year old on the fringe of a new life to manipulating the system in his infamous “pump and dump” scheme. As a stock swindler, he would motivate his young brokers through insane presentations to rile them up as they defrauded investors with duplicitous stock sales. Toward the end of this debauchery tale he was convicted for securities fraud and money laundering for which he was sentenced to twenty – two months in prison as well as recompensing two – hundred million in restitution to any swindled stock buyers of his brokerage firm (A&E Networks Television). Though his lavish spending and berserk party lifestyle was consumed by excessive greed, he displayed both positive and negative aspects of business communications.
Martha Stewart was charged with securities fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and civil charges. She had made false statements to F.B.I., SEC, and investors. She withhold information from these organizations about the selling of her stocks with in the company of ImClone. She was convicted and sentence to five months in prison, five months of house arrest, and a full two years of probation.
Martha Stewart made a kind of securities fraud known as "insider trading" which means using insider information to make a stock transaction. It is trading in the stock market, making improper use of inside information. This information, most of the time, is held by directors of listed companies and those who provide investment services or counseling.
Whereas, the actions of Sam Waksal, CEO of ImClone, were considered insider trading and illegal. Insider trading is when information is used to make a timely sale when the public doesn’t have access to the same information (Boatright, 2013). The law requires that if the information is considered important by a reasonable investor then it is illegal insider trading (Henning, 2012). Mr. Waksal knew about the FDA rejection of his company’s drug trial and tried to sell all his stocks before the public got a chance to review the same information and perhaps be able to execute similar sell orders.
First to be discussed is a concrete definition of “insider trading” as it is discussed in this essay. According to the “European Communities 1989 Insider Dealing Directive: insider trading is the dealing on the basis of materials unpublished, price-sensitive information possessed as a result of one’s employment.(Insider Trading)”