Questcor CEO Don Bailey Sells Shares Just in Time

It pays to watch those insider trades closely over at Yahoo Finance, especially for those pharmaceuticals companies who can scream higher or astoundingly lower when a drug is approved or a drug is no longer accepted by a big insurance company. That's just what happened to Questcor, as the stock was slammed down over 40%, and eventually halted for a period of time, on news that its drug was no longer being paid for by insurance company Aetna. What's interesting though is on September 12th, about a week ago, CEO Don Bailey of Questcor sold $40,000 shares

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Tagged CEO Don Bailey, insider trading, perfectly timed, Questcor

Insider Trader Gets Caught Searching Google on How NOT to Get Caught

You've got to laugh at this a little bit. How greed gets the best of the brightest and the smartest all the time and they're usually caught in the silliest manner. That latest Wall Street comical misstep falls to Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) executive Robert Ramnarine, who used insider information to buy options in three companies he was evaluating for Bristol-Myers. The laughable part is he did some Google searches to see how NOT to get caught for insider trading and that's just what got him caught:

He helped the New York-based drugmaker evaluate whether to buy targeted companies, including ZymoGenetics

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Tagged Bristol-Myers Squibb, insider trading, interest searches for how not get caught, Robert Ramnarine

Michael Douglas: Greed Isn’t So Good

What! Michael Douglas just said the 1987 movie "Wall Street" was fiction. I thought this was a documentary! What is going on? What's next, they're going to tell me Research in Motion really isn't coming out with a phone like the one Douglas used while walking on the beach? This is crazy.

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Tagged fiction, insider trading, michael douglas, wall street

Jill Zarin Buying Goldman Sachs Calls?

On CNBC's Option Action, Real House Wives of New York star, if I can say "star", Jill Zarin, called in to to say she was thinking of buying calls on Goldman Sachs ahead of their earnings report - she wanted to know if that was a good trade. The options traders thought it wasn't a bad way to play Goldman Sachs but Zarin also mentioned that she has three nephews who work at Goldman Sachs and she could ask them if it was a good idea, which would be an insider trading offense, if she then went and bought the

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Tagged Goldman Sachs, insider trading, jill zarin, martha stewart

Nonsense: Warren Buffett De-Friends Bill Gates So He Can Buy Shares of Microsoft

Reuters Pictures Buffett: Bill, this is Warren. Listen man, we've got act like we've had a failing out, OK? It doesn't have to be forever but just for a while, cool. Gates: What, why Warren? What did I do? Buffett: I want to buy some shares in Microsoft that's why. I can't buy shares of Microsoft if we're so buddy buddy, people will think you told me something. People will think I've got inside information. Gates: But, but, what about bridge playing, can we at least still play bridge? Buffett: No, it's going to have to be a full on break up

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Tagged bill gates, de-friend, ibm, insider trading, microsoft, nonsense, warren buffett

Washington Insiders Doing Some Insider Trading

Well, surprise, surprise, what do you know, some members of congress are making some extra money by trading stocks with some very inside and non-public information. And what's crazy is this is legal. Lawmakers can trade on non-public information. Sure, it's unethical, but they're not breaking any law by doing this. It's like the world is upside down. During the healthcare debate they were trading healthcare stocks. During the financial collapse Congressmen Spencer Bachus of Alabama, who sits on a financial committee, was trading stocks after a meeting with Bernanke and Paulson, when the two were saying the world's financial markets

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Tagged 60 minutes, congress, insider trading, Spencer Bachus

Guidepoint Expert Network Caught Up in Insider Trading Cases

This whole expert consulting industry seems like a place where a whole lot of suspect stuff is going on. These are the experts that a lot of hedge funds hire to learn about certain sectors and get that "edge". It seems like doing this "research" and "getting an edge" is actually a euphemism for insider trading. How do you not ask these experts about the 'confidential research' their doing? Can't these hedge funds ask questions that gives them a lead on what direction the research is going? When you pay to join a network and ask experts questions, I'm sure

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Tagged columbia doctor, guidepoint, insider trading

Raj Rajaratnam – Getting An Edge

The New Yorker's George Packer on the insider trading case of Raj Rajaratnam, this is a great read.

In the language of hedge funds, Galleon’s strategy was to “arbitrage reality” with the consensus on the Street—to find information about a given company that diverged from Wall Street’s view, allowing Galleon to cash in when the company’s stock price rose or fell. At Galleon, this was known as “getting an edge.” The analyst or portfolio manager with the best read on a company was called the “axe” on that stock. The surest way to become the axe was to have a

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Tagged george packer, getting an edge, insider trading, raj rajaratnam, the new yorker

Winifred Jiau (the Poohster)

Winnie Jiau, who used to work at Taiwan Semiconductor and Nvidia, gave insider stock tips to a SAC Capital Advisors trader, Noah Freeman, she was paid $120,000 a year for the tips. Additionally, she received some nice gifts for the information, including iPhones, lobsters, and gift certificates - a $300 gift certificate from the Cheesecake factory for example. Pooh likes to eat. She gave excellent insider advice but was tough to work with, Freeman told the NY Times: “I remember this because it was an unusual time to serve lobsters,” said Mr. Freeman, who mentioned that he had a

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Tagged insider trading, poohster, winnie jiau