insider trading

'Insider trading Is rampant and routine'

By Larry Doyle, contributor

Wall Street is a simple business that revolves around people and information. In order for Wall Street to thrive, however, and for our markets and economy to prosper, there needs to be a premise of fair dealing on a level playing field.

In the thirty years I have been involved in the markets, I had never sensed until recently that a growing majority of market participants question this premise MORE

It's time to ban insider trading by Congress

Congress is finally shamed into fixing a long-standing scandal.

By Roger Parloff, senior editor

FORTUNE -- Last Sunday a 60-Minutes report threw a welcome spotlight on a preposterous, long-standing situation that virtually no one openly defends: the fact that, as a practical matter, U.S. Senators and members of the U.S. House of Representatives can -- and do -- trade stocks on inside information that they obtain through performing their legislative work.

Although many MORE

Fallen Angel: Ex-MLB player charged with insider trading

It appears that Doug DeCinces can no longer play defense.

The SEC today charged former pro baseball player Doug DeCinces with insider trading, alleging that he and three associates pocketed more than $1.7 million from buying shares in a company that was about to announce an acquisition by Abbott Laboratories (ABT). Each member of the quartet has since settled, with DeCinces agreeing to repay $2.5 million.

According to the complaint filed in California federal MORE

Bad bunny: Insider trading at Playboy

Hugh Hefner's son-in-law is accused of illegally trading Playboy stock.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today sued Bill Marovitz, husband of former Playboy CEO Christie Hefner, accusing him of illegally trading Playboy shares on information gleaned from Hefner.

An SEC spokesman says that "Marovitz has consented to pay $168,352 in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties."

From the complaint, which was filed today in an Illinois federal district court:

Despite instructions from his wife MORE

Preet Bharara: The enforcer of Wall Street

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York developed a sense of right and wrong at a very early age. Which is too bad for Raj Rajaratnam and countless others.

By William D. Cohan, contributor

FORTUNE -- When Preet Bharara, the 42-year-old U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, was a sophomore at Harvard in 1987, he had a regular gig as a news anchor at the student MORE

The government's risky SAC wager

After falling down hard in the run-up to the financial crisis, regulators are hoping to stage a comeback with a wide-ranging insider trading probe. But as investigators circle Steve Cohen and SAC Capital, the government risks losing what little crime-fighting credibility it has gained.

FORTUNE -- The public's desire to see someone, anyone, come down hard on Wall Street has been answered, not by Dodd Frank, but by U.S. attorney Preet Bharara and MORE

Why investors are standing by SAC Capital

Unlike other hedge funds tied to insider trading investigations, Steven Cohen's $14 billion trading empire hasn't been hit by redemption requests.

FORTUNE -- Last week I wrote that, with the Raj Rajaratnam trial out of the way, investigators would turn their attention to Steven A. Cohen, the hedge fund titan and founder of SAC Capital.

So it seems that politicians and regulators are turning up the heat under the man who Reuters MORE

Government's spotlight turns to Steve Cohen

But do investigators have the juice to snag the man that they have been circling for years?

FORTUNE -- With a massive victory against hedge fund titan Raj Rajaratnam in the rearview mirror, it seems like the government has turned its attention to its next big target.

I'm not talking about the trial that begins today against Zvi Goffer, a former Galleon employee who allegedly ran an insider trading ring of his own.

I'm talking about MORE

Dethroning Raj gives feds an overdue win

Ring the bells! The  government actually managed to convict someone of ripping off those of us who, willingly or otherwise, entrust our financial futures to the markets.

A federal jury on Wednesday found hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam guilty of all 14 counts of conspiracy and fraud, after he scored $64 million in a long-running insider trading scam.

Rajaratnam, 53, now faces 20 years in prison. Here's hoping they throw away the key.

Because the decision hands the government MORE

'Ruthless' Buffett fails to show in Omaha

Color Warren Buffett more mystified than angry over David Sokol's career suicide. 

Sokol's illicit trading and deceit in the months leading up to his departure last month were "inexplicable and inexcusable," Buffett told Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) shareholders at Saturday's annual meeting.

But the billionaire investor expressed no hostility toward Sokol and no regrets for Berkshire's initial press release, which was widely criticized as failing to hold Sokol accountable for his sins. Buffett said he believes Berkshire acted properly MORE