They could also sell it as payment for an e.g. consulting firm for the above secret deal...
Idk if most people would tell the difference
Authenticating transactions is going to be an increasing problem in the presence of deepfakes, though.
Found out, from some "unnamed source" that there will be a new bus stop and a new aldi store across the street from a building where some apartments are for sale? Don't mention it to anyone, secretly buy them, because their value will go up a lot, and do it discreetely, so other companies don't notice.
In my country that's how politicians and their friends get rich. They know ahead of time where a new highway will be planned so they buy up all the rural land in that area for cheap so that the government will have to buy it from them at inflated prices to build the highway. Then, if a new government comes to power before the highway starts construction and realize they don't have any land where the highway will be built, they cancel the project and re-plan it on another route so that this time they can be the ones getting a cut. So this keeps getting repeated and the country ends up with no highways built but at least some people get obscenely rich.
Otherwise I agree, but in my country they do it differently,... government needs a building for X, someone close to someone in the government buys it for eg. 2mio eur, holds on it for a year or two, before a tender comes out (governments are slow), and 'coincidenetally' that building is the best match and the government buys it for eg. 7mio eur from that guy. (and then they split the difference).
The actual crime is using "Material Nonpublic Information" [1] and it does not matter how you obtained it. So, asking an employee what they're building and they ignore the confidentiality agreement to tell you - Nonpublic. Stalking surveyers from public land to find the lots they're commonly around - public.
[1]: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/materialinsiderinformat....
> it does not matter how you obtained it
Yes, it does. It's just that it's more nuanced than the naive interpretation would lead you to believe.
> asking an employee what they're building and they ignore the confidentiality agreement to tell you
In the parent's description of this, it is almost certainly the case that you would have no duty of trust or confidence to the person that told you. In that case, it would be fine for you to trade on it (well, assuming you weren't otherwise restricted from such trading).
You can learn more here: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/17/240.10b5-1
> (b) Awareness of material nonpublic information. Subject to the affirmative defenses in paragraph (c) of this section, a purchase or sale of a security of an issuer is on the basis of material nonpublic information for purposes of Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 if the person making the purchase or sale was aware of the material nonpublic information when the person made the purchase or sale.
Not a single word describing "how". Its just did you have nonpublic information.
Maybe the law is too dense. Here's another analysis of the law for you to consider: https://federal-lawyer.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-federal...
From there:
"federal courts have interpreted Rule 10b-5 to allow for enforcement action when the following four elements are satisfied:
Breach of a fiduciary duty or violation of a relationship of “trust and confidence” in connection with the purchase or sale of a corporate security;
Use or possession of material nonpublic information in connection with the purchase or sale of a corporate security;
Knowing or reckless use of the material nonpublic information when purchasing or selling the corporate security at issue; and,
Reaping a personal benefit as a result of the purchase or sale."
And again, whether there's a duty of trust or confidence to the source of the information is a key factor in whether it can be traded on legally.
If you're at the airport near google HQ and you the CEO of a struggling AI startup arrive and hail a taxi to the google offices, and you think an acquisition might be on the cards? You're free to trade on that information, anyone in the airport could have recognised that guy.
Some complexity arises because insiders aren't allowed to tip you off. If you're golf buddies with the CEO of a struggling AI startup, and he tells you he made a business trip yesterday and Moffett Field is a great airport? If you figure an acquisition is on the cards and trade on that, it's insider trading.
The wild west ways of the banking sector is finally catching up to them.
If someone knew I was negotiating some business that day, phished an email with whatever account number he wanted and AI faked my voice, he'd get the money transfered.
So yeah... another thing to worry about.
Did the email come from within their own domain? Like a properly set-up domain isn't going to let you spoof their employees so your emails to the CEO will be authoritative since they came from the correct domain (assume your CEO checks its ycombinator.com and not ycombimator.com).
At 4k though I suspect it's not that worthy of a target when you can do the same effort to net 25 million. Although I'm a bit surprised there isn't some internal page to add/remove the hardware requests so that it can be easily accounted for by accounting.
It doesn't seem so different to any mixed-use project where a developer might construct a tower that is partly residential, partly commercial. Pretty sure a lot of large companies purchase residential around any major new HQ they intend to open, too.
[1] https://www.lebensmittelzeitung.net/handel/nachrichten/immob...