It’s been nearly 20 years since the names Milken and Boesky dominated the financial headlines with accounts of insider trading and a corrupt fictional character named Gordon Gekko rallied shareholders with the cry of “Greed is Good.” Milken and Boesky lost millions and went to prison and even Gekko suffered a tragic downfall at the movie’s end. These names became synonymous with corporate greed and their downfalls were a cautionary tale for young professionals on the evils of insider trading. Consequently, anyone who lived through those times, especially lawyers, would think that history has proved that the risks of engaging in insider trading far outweighed the rewards, but sadly insider trading again seems on the rise. Sadder still, is the fact that a significant number of the cases brought this year involve alleged misconduct by attorneys.

Insider trading liability revolves around two primary theories of liability: The Classic Theory and the Misappropriation Theory. The Classic Theory involves corporate insiders who knowingly trade in company stock on the basis of material nonpublic information, as well as corporate insiders who have tipped others who traded on this information.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]