I agree the timing is suspicious, but the amounts are pretty small. Even if the stock drops 20% long term due to this (which IMO is highly unlikely), a high ranking executive risking a jail term to avoid losing 50k of stock is (again IMO), absolutely irrational.
After a highly publicized six-week jury trial, Stewart was found guilty in March 2004 of felony charges of conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to federal investigators
Take the "making false statements to federal investigators" one for example, the "false statements" don't have to be at all related to the investigation (or eventual prosecution) at hand, they could have nothing to do with her personal financial matters, they just have to something you say that was not true during the course of the investigation.
Or "conspiracy" and "obstruction", both have a long history of providing law enforcement and prosecutors plenty of leeway to take punitive measures regardless of the feasability of the original case.
Very similar to the long history of 'resisting arrest' and 'assaulting a police officer' being used on a more localized level whenever a citizen did not show total obedience to police, regardless if they committed a crime or not.
More so considering that prior to the sale John Gamble (the CFO) hadn't sold a single share in the three years that he has been with the firm.
https://finance.yahoo.com/screener/insider/GAMBLE%20JOHN%20W...
http://www.nasdaq.com/quotes/insiders/gamble-john-w-jr-60842...
You act as if this is a real senario and would have a non-negligible probability of occurring.
Is that true? What do you mean by "all the time"?
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-06-17/there-mig...
thanks.
If whoever owns those options exercises them today (And covers their short position at a price of $125) they will make ~$2.5m on a ~$200k bet.
This is why the options market is the first place regulators look on insider trading.
Regulatory filings show that three days later, Chief Financial Officer John Gamble sold shares worth $946,374 and Joseph Loughran, president of U.S. information solutions, exercised options to dispose of stock worth $584,099. Rodolfo Ploder, president of workforce solutions, sold $250,458 of stock on Aug. 2. None of the filings lists the transactions as being part of 10b5-1 scheduled trading plans.
The three “sold a small percentage of their Equifax shares,” Ines Gutzmer, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based company, said in an emailed statement. They “had no knowledge that an intrusion had occurred at the time.”
The timing is very suspicious, but if they can prove that they had no knowledge, then they are safe. Given their titles, that seems like a dubious claim.