In SEC vs. Materia, the trial court found that Mr. Material, a financial printing firm employee, misappropriated confidential information from his employer and traded on that information. The Second Circuit adopted that reasoning, paving the way for the Supreme Court's adoption of the misappropriation theory of insider trading some 13 years later.
That case, and the entire concept of the misappropriation theory has always struck me as being wrong and intellectually dishonest. The "fraud" is not connected to the purchase or sale of a security, and the misappropriation theory simply reads the "in connection with" requirement of 10b-5 out of the statute.
However, I can't change the law, and today, with my new association with former SEC Senior Enforcement Attorneys Jim Sallah and Jeff Cox, we continue to represent those accused of insider trading across the country, and have expanded that area of our practices.
In doing so, we have noticed an increase in insider trading cases brought by the Commission, which was recently confirmed by the SEC. In the recap of recent insider trading cases posted at the SEC's website, the Commission provides information regarding the 57 insider trading cases that it has brought over the last two calendar years.
Many of these cases have been discussed here on our blog, but the SEC provides information on their cases brought since 2009. As we have noted in the past, the types of individuals accused of insider trading is interesting, and includes an Investment Bank Analyst, a Public Relations Executive, Former Major League Baseball Players, a Pharmaceutical Company Executive, Five Physicians, the Founder of Equity Research Firm, a Yahoo Executive and Ameriprise Manager, a Movie Producer and Ring of Relatives and Associates, an Expert Consulting Firm and a host of stock brokers, traders and hedge fund managers.
The entire list is at the Commission's web site, and although they do not trumpet the cases they lost, such as the one they lost in Florida last year, where Jim Sallah successfully defended a doctor in an insider trading case, the list is an interesting look at those recent enforcement cases.
SEC List of Recent Insider Trading Cases
