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  #1  
Old 12-20-2005, 03:03 PM
TxSteve TxSteve is offline
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Default Insider Trading Question

I'm not sure exactly what is illegal.

Let me give an example. I've owned a few shares of Tyco stock for over a year now. My company sells one of their products.

I heard a few months back that they were going to be selling one of their divisions. I know that division is a very low margin business..and essentially dead weight.

From my contacts at Tyco; I had heard maybe a month ago that a sale was going to be finalized in December. This was mentioned conversationally at a meeting by them.

If I had loaded up on their stock based on this info...would that be illegal? (just to be clear, I did not buy any more shares).
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  #2  
Old 12-20-2005, 03:09 PM
buffett buffett is offline
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Default Re: Insider Trading Question

Somehow I don't think you'll get arrested. This has been Reg FD level knowledge for many months.
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  #3  
Old 12-20-2005, 04:33 PM
TxSteve TxSteve is offline
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Default Re: Insider Trading Question

thanks.

I'm just trying to figure out what constitutes insider trading.

I'll give 2 other examples that I did not take advantage of.

1) about a year ago; in a meeting with a pipeline contractor; i stop into another guys office that i know. he is the public relations guy for investors. He mentions that "work is stressful as he's going to have to announce tomorrow that earnings aren't as much as they had forecast". Had I shorted; would that have been insider trading?


2) taking a tour of a new natural gas processing facility where I'm told this facility is going to open in a few months and that the new technology they are using to process the LNG hasn't been made public yet; but expect big things out of the company.

obviously i have zero understanding of what constitues insider trading.

(edit) just wanted to add; tyco tried to sell this division 3 years ago and could not find a buyer. the fact that the division was for sale wasn't really my question...but the fact that I knew from insiders that a deal was almost finalized....a few weeks before that info was public.
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  #4  
Old 12-20-2005, 05:55 PM
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Default Re: Insider Trading Question

Under Rule 10b5-1 of the 1934 Exchange Act, insider trading occurs when a person makes use of material, non-public information in his/her decision to buy or sell a secuirty in breach of a duty of trust or confidence owed to the issuer of that security, its shareholders or the source of the information.

Material = information that would affect a reasonable investor's decisions to buy and sell.

Some examples of people who are presumptively "insiders" unable to trade on the basis of material, non-public information (not exhaustive):

--when a person agrees to keep information secret
--when the person who gives the info. and the person who receives it have a relationship where the giver would reasonably expect the recipient to keep the information secret (e.g. the lawyer for a corporation).
--when one receives the information from your insider spouse, parent, child or sibling, subject to the defense that the recipient didn't know (and shouldn't have know) the information was confidential.

Basically, when the above categories of people trade on the secret info. they are given in the course of their employment, they are thought to steal -- or misappropriate -- money from the corporation by exploiting their information advantage. They didn't give value to the company for their stock windfall, but they are reaping it. The same rules obviously prohibit CEOs, control-persons and directors -- classic insiders -- from making trades based on their inside info. However, these groups must report all trades, and that heightened scrutiny makes any blatantly illegal insider trade more obvious to the SEC and shareholders than the more indirect, "misappropriation" cases referred to above.

Figuring out whether you have a duty to the corporation, its shareholders or its agents is only one step in the analysis, however. The SEC also prosecutes people under the tipper/tippee theory, as well as under the misappropriation theory. In tipper/tippee cases, all that matters is that the recipient knowingly received material, non-public information from an insider and traded based on that knowledge. The tipper/insider is also liable for his breach of duty in divulging corporate secrets. Even if you overhear a conversation between insiders about, e.g., a forthcoming merger, you break the law when you trade on the basis of that information (although the insiders aren't liable). However, if you found some note in the trash or in some other way came upon information that was not directly given to you by an insider and you couldn't reasonably know it was prepared by an insider, it is unclear whether it would be illegal to trade based on its contents.

In your examples above, 1 is almost certainly insider trading, and 2 is probably insider trading. I would be surprised if the gas company you referenced didn't include its new technology in a public statement to investors or in a 10K or 10Q. However, both sources were insiders (employees with confidential information are presumptively insiders), you knew that, and they gave you information that was not available to the general public and could affect share price. If you traded based on that information you would be liable for insider trading and so would your sources.

Hopefully this answers your question and gives you a slightly better idea of what constitutes insider trading. I'm a recent law school grad with only a bit of securities experience, so if anything I wrote is unclear or contradictory to what you know, please tell me and I'll try to be more clear.
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  #5  
Old 12-20-2005, 05:55 PM
buffett buffett is offline
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Default Re: Insider Trading Question

IANAL.
1) I would say yes.
2) I don't know.
[ QUOTE ]
I knew from insiders that a deal was almost finalized....a few weeks before that info was public.

[/ QUOTE ]
From the rough timeline in your OP, I respectfully disagree that you learned this before it was public.
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  #6  
Old 12-20-2005, 06:03 PM
TxSteve TxSteve is offline
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Default Re: Insider Trading Question

Thanks very much for the thorough answer. I learned quite a bit from it.
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