* astroturf campaign against the company
* fake boost in profits from massive asset liquidation
Once the stock is run up, equity cashed out leaving morons who only had access to financials and not “the plan” holding the bag. It smells like a combination of fraud and insider trading, but perhaps the SEC can name it something more appropriate.
They can name it "what half of our employees did before working here".
All of that is (barely, probably) not illegal, and because it is not illegal, it therefore is normal, perfectly reasonable, and not in any way wrong. The law wasn't broken, therefore nothing untoward happened.
If they managed to touch their toe over the line of illegal, then it was fraud and bad and they're criminals who should be prosecuted. But since what they did might be barely not quite fraud, it's perfectly normal and acceptable, right?
/s
You're completely correct. Everything described in the article was completely legal.
The things that are illegal, like overfishing protected waters, the company doesn't do. Instead, they lobby to make it legal, then do it.
See, all above board. It's all legal. Why would anyone get upset about a company that isn't breaking the law? If it were wrong it would be illegal, right?