When I consider the millions of publicly traded companies worldwide, the countless accounting firms involved, and the myriad CFOs, CEOs, and board members—along with their spouses—it's hard not to wonder if it's naive to believe that insider trading is only a minor issue. The temptation must be enormous. Think about it: Analysts' targets are public, you already know whether you'll beat expectations or not, and it wouldn't be difficult to find someone on the other side of the world to execute trades on your behalf. Payments could be made in crypto, gold, freaking wine bottles or whatever. The opportunity to exploit earnings information seems so staggeringly easy and potentially lucrative that it's almost impossible to believe—given human nature—that this isn't happening far more frequently than we know.
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