List of insider traders

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This list of insider traders consists of people who have engaged in illegal insider trading.

The numerous other forms of market fraud are not included here. (In particular, promotions, pump and dump and similar activity are not considered insider trading.)

The list is chronological by dates of trades (or alleged trades), though often the matters only became public knowledge much later, and the results of trials even later still.

1 Australia
2 France
3 United States
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Australia

Simon Hannes, Australian Macquarie Bank executive, convicted and jailed over options bought 19 September 1996 ahead of TNT takeover.

Steve Vizard, Australian businessman and entertainer, admitted as part of a civil settlement to an associate company making trades in 2000 ahead of deals involving Telstra, of which he was a director. On July 28, 2005 Vizard was fined AUD$390,000 and received a 10 year ban from acting as a Company director. This has caused bitterness to some observers, who contrasted the (allegedly) relatively lenient treatment of Vizard with the significantly harsher criminal sentence for insider trading handed down to Sydney businessman Rene Rivkin.

Rene Rivkin, Australian stock-market high-flyer, convicted and jailed over buying Qantas shares 24 April 2001 ahead of a deal. The trade netted Rivkin a profit of $346. He subsequently committed suicide in 2005.

[edit] France

George Soros [1], billionaire financier convicted in 2002 by a French court for his role in the 1988 takeover of Societe Generale. The conviction is under appeal at the European Court of Human Rights.^[1]

[edit] United States

Ivan Boesky, US arbitrageur who acted on tips from corporate insiders in the 1980s, jailed under a plea bargain.

Roger Blackwell, professor and marketing expert, convicted in 2005 for tipping off family and friends about Kellogg's [2] purchase of Worthington Foods Inc.

Michael Milken, entrepreneuer for the sale of junk bonds and financier for much of the hostile takeovers of the 1980s, jailed for securities fraud.

Jeffrey Skilling, former President and CEO of Enron. Convicted (in May 2006) of 1 of 9 alleged insider trading charges. Conviction expected to be appealed.

Marylin Star, Canadian porn actress convicted in 2003 of insider trading for acting on information provided by her lover, James McDermott, former CEO of investment firm Keefe Bruyette & Woods. The trades were made in 1997 and 1998 and Star was alleged to have made just over $80,000.

Samuel Waksal, US founder of ImClone [3], jailed for family sales of ImClone in December 2000 ahead of a drug non-approval.

Contrary to popular belief, Martha Stewart was not convicted of insider trading, after selling 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems on December 27, 2001. She was convicted of obstruction of justice in the criminal case, and the civil case was settled by a consent decree, in which Stewart agreed to pay a large fine without admitting or denying any wrongdoing. See Martha Stewart (ImClone)

Oracle Corporation's[4] CEO Larry Ellison [5] agreed to pay $100 million to charity to settle an insider trading lawsuit prompted by his 2001 sale of about $900 million worth of company shares before the stock's price plunged.