Insider trading and tipping violate the concept of fair capital markets...
Most insider-trading cases involve civil suits and penalties...
Anyone found liable for trading on inside information must pay the federal government...
Under Section 32(a) of the Securities Exchange Act, as amended by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, individuals face up to...
When irregular trading activity is detected in a company's stock, all transactions made during the period under review are scrutinized...
Under Section 21A(e) of the Securities Exchange Act, the SEC may award...
To detect irregular patterns of trading, each stock exchange uses a surveillance operation. When it detects suspicious trading, the surveillance entity reports the matter to the SEC, which now wields a formidable array of digital technology to track and investigate insider trading...
The rules apply to any confidential, important information that you reveal to anyone about your company. The SEC adopted...
The SEC has reciprocal agreements with many countries...
The prohibition against insider trading and tipping continue to apply to trades in your company stock even after you stop working there...
Not surprisingly, anything you do with your company stock as an executive or director raises issues involving the securities laws, potential SEC reporting requirements, and liability risks...
Yes. Your intentions do not matter under the securities laws. You cannot...
The law is evolving on this question of "use" versus "possession" of information. The SEC adopted rules in late summer 2000, but they are untested...
No. Unless someone who is part of a scheme confesses, as in the movie Wall Street, direct proof rarely emerges...
Yes. A witness who lies under oath...
Generally, no violation occurs if you receive a grant of stock options when you know secret stock-price-moving information about your company. However, the SEC has focused severely in recent years on...
It depends on whether you hold the shares at exercise or sell them. If you merely exercise stock options when you know material nonpublic information about your company, the exercise itself is not a violation, according to most experts. However...
Generally, there is no violation for the enrollment at the start of the offering period or for the...
After the information is publicly disclosed, you should wait a reasonable amount of time for...
Blackout periods are times when some or all of a company's employees are prohibited from trading its securities (sometimes including the exercise of stock options). Window periods are times when trading by those employees is allowed. A company imposes a blackout when it...
To prevent insider trading, and to reduce the need to constantly monitor and evaluate individual requests to trade stock, most companies prohibit employees from trading their stock during certain timeframes. These interludes are known as...
Most companies do not prohibit exercises of stock options during blackout periods (but see an exception). However, you need to be careful about...
You cannot be charged just for the vesting of restricted stock, as no sale of securities occurs. However...
Whether you trade your company stock in your regular brokerage account or in...
Courts have the authority to bar you from corporate office or directorship if your conduct demonstrates...
Using a blind trust goes beyond the protections of Rule 10b5-1 plans, yet has more restrictions. These are irrevocable grantor trusts with...
Tax errors can be costly! Don't draw unwanted attention from the IRS. Our Tax Center explains and illustrates the tax rules for sales of company stock, W-2s, withholding, estimated taxes, AMT, and more.
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