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A comment on All controversial trades by Senators in the 2020 Congressional insider trading. Parent comment

Re:All controversial trades by Senators in the 2020 Congress... by throwaaskjdfh on Saturday June 05, 2021 @05:13PM (#27408494)
The question isn't whether they used insider information well, it's whether they used insider information at all.

Using information gained through their political office to inform their personal trading is improper, even if they lose money.

Just because many of these trades are bad or useless in retrospect doesn't mean that didn't try to profit from insider information.

EDIT: And I don't buy the argument that the small size of the trades relative to wealth implies that they're not using insider information. Martha Stewart went to jail over a $230,000 trade [0] at a point when her net worth was likely hundreds of times that amount.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImClone_stock_trading_case - interestingly the loss she avoided was only $45,673

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Re:All controversial trades by Senators in the 2020 Congress... by chii on Sunday June 06, 2021 @12:00AM (#27410688)
> used insider information well, it's whether they used insider information at all.

it'd be impossible to detect inaction as a result of insider info. For example, if someone were originally planning on selling, but based on some insider info, changed their mind to not do anything.

So - the point i'm trying to make is that if they _profited_ from insider info, rather than just merely utilizing it, then it should be prosecuted. But if they are stupid and did the "wrong" thing with insider info, i don't see why there needs to be any effort trying to prosecute. They got their just punishment by losing money already.

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Re:All controversial trades by Senators in the 2020 Congress... by barry-cotter on Sunday June 06, 2021 @02:26AM (#27411206)
> Martha Stewart went to jail over a $230,000 trade [0] at a point when her net worth was likely hundreds of times that amount.

Martha Stewart went to jail for lying to an FBI agent. The trade was irrelevant. Never talk to the FBI.

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Re:All controversial trades by Senators in the 2020 Congress... by throwaaskjdfh on Sunday June 06, 2021 @12:03PM (#27414024)
The trade was relevant because it's what she was lying to protect. My point still stands: people will take a large risk for a gain that is negligible relative to their net worth.
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