Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Three Equifax Managers Sold Stock Before Cyber Hack Was Revealed

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 177 posts

Re: Three Equifax Managers Sold Stock Before Cyber Hack Was Revealed

#91

Post by ptero »

mathattack wrote: post #79
korethr wrote: post #7

So, does this count as insider trading? My intuition says 'yes'. But my intuition about a thing and what the law says don't always match.

From the article: 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.…

Actually it is the state that has to prove mischief. They still enjoy presumption of innocence.

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.

Re: Three Equifax Managers Sold Stock Before Cyber Hack Was Revealed

#92

Post by toast0 »

stordoff wrote: post #67
eigenvalue wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stock is going to drop a lot more than 6%!

If it is, wouldn't the best course of action to sell as soon as the news is announced? You then avoid the insider trading accusations (as the information is now public), but still avoid the bulk of the losses.

No, because the information is not considered public until it has been widely disseminate for some amount of time. As I recall, 2 business days, but it may not be strongly defined.

Re: Three Equifax Managers Sold Stock Before Cyber Hack Was Revealed

#93

Post by noobermin »

ptero wrote: post #91
mathattack wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: 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.…

Actually it is the state that has to prove mischief. They still enjoy presumption of innocence. 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.

>high ranking executive risking a jail term to avoid losing 50k of stock is (again IMO), absolutely irrational.

You act as if this is a real senario and would have a non-negligible probability of occurring.

Re: Three Equifax Managers Sold Stock Before Cyber Hack Was Revealed

#94

Post by breadbox »

devmunchies wrote: post #25
hqian wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most likely yes. Actually if this doesn't count I don't know what is. However just like you, don't take my word, not a lawyer.

Off topic question... Is there a law about giving legal advice in a public forum if you're not a lawyer? Why do people add the disclaimer about not being a lawyer. Generally curious. Moreover, is there a law about impersonating lawyer in a public forum (not that any ethical person would do that of course)?

> Why do people add the disclaimer about not being a lawyer. Generally curious.

I've always taken it as "I want people to assume that I know what I'm talking about, unless there are negative consequences. I still want to chime in, though." That said, I'm not a sociologist, and you should procure advice from an expert before forming opinions about people on the internet you've never met.

Re: Three Equifax Managers Sold Stock Before Cyber Hack Was Revealed

#95

Post by drtz »

dragonwriter wrote: post #40
jzwinck wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No there is not a law against giving legal advice if you're not a lawyer. It's lawyers who are sometimes prohibited from giving legal advice. Non-lawyers have the usual freedom of speech, restricted in the usual ways. Claiming that you are someone you're not on the Internet is so commonplace it is hard to see where any trouble would come of it by itself. Again it's different if you knowingly cause harm to others. I'm…

> No there is not a law against giving legal advice if you're not a lawyer. In most (all, I think) US jurisdictions, providing legal advice is practice of law, and doing it without a license to do so in the state is prohibited (usually, a crime.) This isn't not legal advice and I am not a lawyer. Consult an actual lawyer licensed in your state before deciding whether or not you should provide legal advice.

"This isn't not legal advice..."

Busted!

Re: Three Equifax Managers Sold Stock Before Cyber Hack Was Revealed

#96

Post by derekp7 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #57
21 wrote: post #51

So one guy sold 1 mil of stock, the stock dropped 6%, so he avoided a 60k loss. Let's say he expected a 20% drop, and he saved 200k. If a were a millionaire, I wouldn't risk prison for 200k. Even the litigation to avoid prison could cost 100k. And this is the kind of thing you know all angles will be looked into (it took a news agency a few hours to unearth this). If he did it (insider trading), he is very stupid.

Martha Stewart was a billionaire and wound up spending prison time over an insider trading savings of $45,673. Logic doesn't always apply.

I thought she went to prison for lying about her insider knowledge, not the trading itself.

Re: Three Equifax Managers Sold Stock Before Cyber Hack Was Revealed

#97

Post by khuey »

drewmol wrote: post #90
ceejayoz wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Markets are closed, but it's down 13% in after-market trading now.

This is not financial advise: I remember a few commentors on HN recently saying they have made large gains by buying stock of companies after the news of cyber security breaches significantly reduced the share value, then waiting for the dust to settle(reaction-news-cycle to complete) and the price to rise again.

For the benefit of those reading: given that this may very well be the worst breach ever by far, and is likely to attract significant attention from government regulators and prosecutors, this is likely a particularly unwise time to begin attempting this strategy.

Re: Three Equifax Managers Sold Stock Before Cyber Hack Was Revealed

#98

Post by rcarrigan87 »

drewmol wrote: post #90
ceejayoz wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Markets are closed, but it's down 13% in after-market trading now.

This is not financial advise: I remember a few commentors on HN recently saying they have made large gains by buying stock of companies after the news of cyber security breaches significantly reduced the share value, then waiting for the dust to settle(reaction-news-cycle to complete) and the price to rise again.

The sad thing is these breaches are so common place nowadays most of us regular folk just assume all our personal information is compromised to some degree. I'll be curious to see if this breach has any real material business impact.

Re: Three Equifax Managers Sold Stock Before Cyber Hack Was Revealed

#99

Post by mxwll »

korethr wrote: post #7

So, does this count as insider trading? My intuition says 'yes'. But my intuition about a thing and what the law says don't always match.

Key quote here: None of the filings lists the transactions as being part of 10b5-1 scheduled trading plans.

Public companies typically have scheduled sales of their options for people at this level. This was not that.

Post reply on HN