Insider trading the difference

[W1nTry]

When say... a prominent political figure, let's call her Mrs. X pulls out all her money in a soon to be (let's call it Investment Company C) bankrupt company C, even if the dirty laundry is dragged through our TV sets in the parliment and God alone knows where else, NOT ONE FCUK happen to the 'guilty' in our 'blessed' nation. On the other hand, ppl like Martha Stewart and others get canned, which is HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE. So that being said, here's a nice little example of what happens in 1st World COuntries when you misbehave in a position on knowing where money is involved:

Hector Ruiz is under investigation
SEC out for blood
By Paul Taylor
Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 14:21

HECTOR RUIZ, the not-so-beloved former CEO of AMD and current head honcho at Chimpzilla's spinoff Global Foundries, is under investigation by the SEC, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The SEC apparently alleges that Ruiz tipped off a Galleon Group hedge fund manager about AMD's plans to spinoff its fabs into a separate company, which eventually became Global Foundries. It further alleges that, based on Hector's tip, Galleon Group and New Castle Funds went on share-buying spree, loading up on cheap AMD shares and profiting handsomely when AMD's share price rose in anticipation of the spinoff.

According to the WSJ, the SEC isn't claiming that Hector collected any money for passing along the tip. That could present a small problem for prosecutors, as it wouldn't seem to allow them to nail Ruiz with charges of having profited directly from insider trading. But others certainly profited from the information, at the expense of unsuspecting AMD shareholders who sold their shares while unaware of the impending spinoff of Global Foundries, so prosecutors can argue that harm was done.

The Galleon Group's strategic investment raised a few eyebrows at the SEC and has been the target of investigation for a while now. The company's demise last week, as clients jumped ship, was just the last nail in the coffin.

Raj Rajaratnam, the Galleon Group fund manager and alleged mastermind behind the insider trading scandal, has already been arrested and awarded a jail cell courtesy of the federal government.

Others recently arrested and cooling their heels in jail include Bob Moffat, a senior VP and general manager at IBM, Danielle Chiesi and Mark Kurland of New Castle Funds, Rajiv Goel of Intel Capital and Anil Kumar of McKinsey and Company. They are all expected to be arraigned soon.

Hector is just the latest, and possibly a celebrity guest star, in this string of fish hooked by the SEC during the course of its investigation. However by the looks of it, the SEC won't stop here. µ

Last I checked Mrs. X still walking free. Comments