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Twilio employees, associates charged with insider trading by SEC

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Re: Twilio employees, associates charged with insider trading by SEC

#61

Post by kyleblarson »

extr wrote: post #8

What a lame way to insider trade. I thought that instance of the Capital One analysts using internal database queries to understand which retailers were having good quarters was far more interesting and insidious. Similarly you could imagine a lot more subtle ways to leverage insider Twilio information (count of verification texts sent by client?) to make far more obscure bets. The SEC definitely takes a look at anyo…

Add to that they apparently chatted about it in some tool that had an auditable history and one can surmise that these people weren't the most sophisticated bad actors.

Re: Twilio employees, associates charged with insider trading by SEC

#64

Post by wasmitnetzen »

syshum wrote: post #24
derekp7 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something I was always curious about, but I lack the legal background to find the answer. What if public information showed that you should sell the stock, but you decide to hold it instead (i.e., not do anything at all) because you have insider information that the company will be doing much better than expected? The "not selling" part (assuming you bought stock prior to having insider knowledge) is a form of inside…

not a lawyer, but inaction should never be criminalized.

In a lot of Civil law systems, you have a Duty to rescue[1]. Which I wholeheartedly agree with.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty_to_rescue

Re: Twilio employees, associates charged with insider trading by SEC

#65

Post by bsder »

tempsy wrote: post #2

I can’t understand the rationale behind blowing up your life and career in which you made $300k+/year for a tiny $1m gain split between 3 people and their families. Why are people who should otherwise be much smarter than this doing incredibly dumb things? Just greed? and entitlement?

Generally--because they're used to this kind of cheating and have never been busted for it before.

The problem is that people think they've graduated to "no longer has to worry about consequences" at the $1 million range. And that's true--unless the Feds get involved. At that point, you need to be in the $100+ million range to get away with crime.

So, there is this danger area between $1 million where you get lots of local feedback that you are above consequences and $100 million where you actually are above consequences.

It's very easy to get complacent and trip up in that window. (I'm remembering the Silicon Valley option backdating fiasco and how many people it caught ...)

Re: Twilio employees, associates charged with insider trading by SEC

#66

Post by notch656a »

ethbr0 wrote: post #45
notch656a wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If you're using information anyone could get with some research, then it's not illegal. If I am willing to give out information gained during employment of the company to anyone asking as part of their research, then by this definition it's not illegal, as anyone can get the information with some research.

See fair disclosure requirements https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-ba...

At best that would only require you to disclose to everyone once asked by someone performing some research, or through the outlined regulation FD mechanisms. It still holds that using your own definition, all it takes is some research to gain what the employee who is willing to give up information knows, and that giving up the information can be done in a way that avoids violating regulation FD.

Re: Twilio employees, associates charged with insider trading by SEC

#67

Post by filoleg »

xyst wrote: post #39
mgraczyk wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are though https://www.thestreet.com/markets/regulation/doj-sec-probe-d...

investigations != prosecutions when sec posts the story, then I will believe it. I strongly suspect the "investigations" will lead to nowhere.

The process takes time. Prosecution doesn't, and shouldn't, happen without an investigation.

Whether this specific investigation will lead somewhere or not is yet to be determined. You cannot say they did nothing until the investigation is completed.

If the investigation doesn't lead to a just conclusion, then we can talk. But as of now, your anger at SEC just sounds like being annoyed because they decided not to speedrun this. If you actually believe that a wrongdoing has happened here, then the investigation needs to be thorough and conclusive, to make sure there were no gaps through which the guilty party can escape. And that's assuming any wrongdoing actually happened, which is what the investigation will need to determine.

Re: Twilio employees, associates charged with insider trading by SEC

#68

Post by guidovranken »

> On several occasions between late March and early May 2020, before Twilio’s public earnings announcement, Sure, Lagudu and Chotu Pulagam used internal chat channels to discuss in Telugu whether Twilio might exceed market expectations in its quarterly report of earnings, due in May 2020. They concluded that Twilio’s stock price would “rise for sure” after the quarterly results were announced publicly.

https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2022/comp-pr2022-5...

I assume "internal chat channels" means the company Slack so this wasn't well planned at all. I wonder if they were even aware they were committing a felony at that stage.

Re: Twilio employees, associates charged with insider trading by SEC

#69

Post by vmception »

rossdavidh wrote: post #29
charcircuit wrote: post #4

All insider trading should be legal. Imagine the opposite case. You know your company is doing poorly but the government forces you to not sell your stock and take a loss.

In those countries where insider trading is either explicitly allowed or laws against it are never enforced, nobody without inside information wants to play, because they know the game is rigged.

Yeah? Any analysis I can read on that? Its kind of low hanging since the US has such high trading volumes far beyond every other market, but I cant accept that as causation alone.

Re: Twilio employees, associates charged with insider trading by SEC

#70

Post by mynegation »

Eiriksmal wrote: post #56
mynegation wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[Edited to remove harsh phrasing]. Consider this: there is no upside from this comment and quite a bit of potential (although likely low probability) downside.

Being tempted and acting on those temptations are two different things. There is nothing damning in this comment. I appreciate the author's honesty.

I have no reasons to imply that the commenter would be tempted or acted at all. But there are means of coercion other than money.

I admit though, I watched too many spy movies and TV shows

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