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Crime

FBI Indicts Goldman Sachs Analyst Who Tried Using Xbox Chat for Insider Trading (kotaku.com) 38

Posted by EditorDavid from the world's-most-powerful-console dept.
Kotaku reports: A newly unsealed FBI indictment accuses a former analyst at Goldman Sachs of insider trading, including allegedly using an Xbox to pass tips onto his close friends. The friend group earned over $400,000 in ill-gotten gains as a result, federal prosecutors claim. "There's no tracing [Xbox 360 chat]," the analyst allegedly told his friend who was worried they might be discovered.

He appears to have made a grave miscalculation.

The FBI arrested Anthony Viggiano and alleged co-conspirator Christopher Salamone, charging them with securities fraud on September 28. Viggiano is accused of using his previous position at Goldman Sachs to share trading tips with Salamone and others. Salamone has already pleaded guilty. Bloomberg reports that this is the fifth incident in recent years of a person associated with the investment bank allegedly using their position to do crimes...

Probably best to keep the crime talk on Xbox to a minimum either way, especially now that Microsoft is using AI to monitor communications for illicit and toxic activities.
In a statement an FBI official said "This indictment is yet another example of individuals believing they can get away with benefiting from trading on material non-public information.
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FBI Indicts Goldman Sachs Analyst Who Tried Using Xbox Chat for Insider Trading More

FBI Indicts Goldman Sachs Analyst Who Tried Using Xbox Chat for Insider Trading

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  • If only they used... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mikaere ( 748605 ) on Sunday October 01, 2023 @04:54PM (#63892407)
    If only they used Anom [engadget.com] instead

    • Re:If only they used... (Score:5, Informative)

      by ls671 ( 1122017 ) on Sunday October 01, 2023 @05:02PM (#63892433) Homepage

      Nah, you just set up a vps at 5$ a month, log into it with ssh and use the talk program to chat. Kids nowadays...

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Shakrai ( 717556 )

      End to end encrypted channels (iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, etc.) are obviously better than fucking Xbox Chat for secure communications, however, if you think they're secure enough to keep the FBI at bay, you're delusional. Go read the countless indictments of Jan 6th'ers that included snippets of Signal chats. Very few people are smart enough to take the basic precaution of deleting messages after they read them. There's a reason why every decent/semi-accurate spy movie has the spy burning the one-time p [wikipedia.org]

      • The benefit of Xbox Chat would have been obscurity rather than encryption. Obviously this is a guess, but it's unlikely the FBI were hacking or even requesting access from Microsoft to watch the chats. Typically one person has been interviewed over suspicious finanical gain and given up the info willingly.

        What you really need is an encrypted chat that does not store sent messages, deletes messages one minute after they are read, and perhaps notifies the sender of the unread/undeleted count. Even then, if on

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ls671 ( 1122017 )

          The FBI (well maybe more NSA AI) also watches game chats as well. In many movies, you can see terrorists using game chats to communicate so the cat has been out of the bag for quite a while. The culprit in this case had probably watched too many movies and/or TV shows...

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I just find it funny that people will risk their entire freedom with untrusted chat services. One doesn't use XBox Chat for discussing unannounced products and trade secrets for businesses, so why would one risk it in their own life. It isn't like there is a mechanism in place for reporting chats, so a toxic game player would get spanked if they go on a tirade.

        Even with a "secure" channel, all it takes is one weakness in the chain. Compromised endpoint, some app scrounging for data to send up for analyti

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by e3m4n ( 947977 )
        The first obstacle for the fbi is discovering the crime. The second is identifying a conspiracy. The third is collecting evidence of said conspiracy. It sounds like MS did most of the work here by identifying the conspiracy and sending logs of it. Without that monitoring its possible they would have gotten away with it if the gains were modest. However yes, I believe that communicating on your own platform where you can delete your own char logs would be the smart move.
  • ...well someone has toget aight every so often. I mean they cannot really jail all those connected Feferal Reserve members that quit after being told off indirectly...they cannot really get BlackRock, Goldman Sachs or Citidal's senior staff who are significantly harder to catch or prove of anywrong doing even if they're mostly fucking everyone else over... It's not alla conspiracy but it's well known there's a mountain of shit the FBI, SEC and the like never even manage to get near let alone so something ab

  • I can hear the recordings now (Score:3)

    by kackle ( 910159 ) on Sunday October 01, 2023 @05:11PM (#63892453)
    "Yes, sell everything on Friday before 11 a.m.'s shareholder meeting because that's when HEADSHOT!"
  • The one function of the US government which either works well, or is effective at publicizing its successes, is insider trading detection. Ignorant idiots are getting what they deserve.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      It's the latter, they're fairly good at getting publicity. They really never go after the big fish, because their admins want nice cushy jobs for their family members later. One of the southern congresscritters was texting his broker **while in the House Intelligence Committee meeting**, and nothing was done about it.

  • You're stealing it wrong. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Sunday October 01, 2023 @05:46PM (#63892491)

    "This indictment is yet another example of individuals believing they can get away with benefiting from trading on material non-public information."

    I see.

    And what exactly is it again when we find lawmakers retiring from a $174K/year job as multi-millionaires, with fortunes worth several times more than the best stock traders could ever amass? Is every one of those yet another example of "luck" more constant than gravity itself?

    Nothing like an extra side of hot piping bullshit to go with that fresh "justice" the FBI is claiming they still know how to serve.

    • So we complain about "career politicians" because they serve too long, AND we assume that no politician ever had a career or made money before getting into politics. I'll refrain from opining on the first part, but the second part is just incredibly wrong in so many cases. A LOT of people go into politics already having made some money. How many people who run for statewide office, or in Washington, partially fund their early campaigns out of pocket and claim to be the best candidate because they were succe

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tablizer ( 95088 )

        Still, companies and foreign govt's give them and their families "friendly deals" to encourage them. Hunter @ Burisma is just a drop in the bucket.

      • Re:You're stealing it wrong. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Monday October 02, 2023 @08:30AM (#63893451)

        So we complain about "career politicians" because they serve too long, AND we assume that no politician ever had a career or made money before getting into politics. I'll refrain from opining on the first part, but the second part is just incredibly wrong in so many cases.

        Bullshit.

        Preventing lawmakers from trading, isn't some brand-spanking new issue just tabled because we're starting to see hints of corruption and a few cracks in the foundation. If we ever passed regulation like that, it's going to be called Pelosi's Law due to the sheer amount of corruption, and from the former Speaker of the House, not some second-year no-name lackey.

        I dare you to tell me why we have utterly failed to control our lawmakers from engaging in that specific flavor of self-enrichment through corrupt practices. Go ahead. Tell me we're all just being presumptuous about their former fortunes as we hire younger and younger. Lawmakers in Government literally outperforming Wall Street trading experts who have spent decades honing their craft?

        The only thing you're refraining from here, is facts.

      • Speaker fees and book deals.

    • Re:You're stealing it wrong. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by NotEmmanuelGoldstein ( 6423622 ) on Sunday October 01, 2023 @10:05PM (#63892859)

      ... of "luck" more constant ...

      Becoming a politician is an expensive business, thus very few of them start their career being penniless or self-made millionaires: They start with family money.

      Campaigning is a business, your congress-critter is a sole trader. When he retires, he closes his business and all business assets (campaign funds) become private property. This is a well-known loop-hole of US public service.

      Of course, as congress-critters, they also know which industries are going to boom or bust before ordinary investors do. There are a few laws to stop the most obvious insider trading but as their declared investments (as required by those laws) prove, there's plenty of room to make a profit from the business of making laws and giving hand-outs.

      ... the FBI is claiming ...

      Hilary Clinton was found to have breached privacy rules but the FBI refused to prosecute. Nixon was arrested, then pardoned before he was tried and convicted.

      The rich don't have to follow the laws we follow, and when they break them, they don't suffer the punishment we suffer. They are different sides of the same coin but it's important to not confuse the two.

      • ... of "luck" more constant ...

        Becoming a politician is an expensive business, thus very few of them start their career being penniless or self-made millionaires: They start with family money.

        Fantastic. You just gave the perfect reason we need campaign limits. After all, all of them are rich and none of them actually need that much campaign money. Ever. Whoring oneself out on social media is free advertising, so limits should reflect how much it costs to start a social media account. All other forms of advertising are ignored, recycled, or time-shifted away anyway. Ain't nobody got time for that.

        We'll also pass those bans on trading for lawmakers too. No need for them to dabble in markets

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Any semi-literate tech worker can be a millionaire by the time they retire. Assuming a starting salary of $60K and a modest raise of about 3% each year, they can be making $170K after about 20-25 years. If they put 10% in savings each year and 10% in a modest 3% investment, they can have over a million by the time they retire at 60. Add into that any retirement plan plus Social Security and most people will retire comfortably as millionaires. It worked for me.

      The biggest problem is convincing early wor

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by e3m4n ( 947977 )
      The worst part is the media and LE talks like there is an exemption from prosecution. I read the trade laws. There is no exemption. The media is just as complicit in the sweeping under the rug. If they would report on every trade, and how that ties with the timing of the committee hearing; it would be a good start. Not just the senator but the family members too. Some of these husbands dont strike me as bright enough to tie their shoes let alone be some stock trading savant.
    • That is actually one of my favorite Dave Barry lines: "The US Senate, white millionaires working for you!"

  • “The internet is totally secure” (Score:3)

    by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Sunday October 01, 2023 @05:50PM (#63892497)
    Said absolutely nobody with an IQ greater than 75. This just reinforces my opinion of investment types - high-grade intellect is not required - just the ability to gamble and get lucky.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • If they had any brains, they'd of used Session for their drug orders and hot stock tips. Using Signal would've been a bit risky because that's tied to phone numbers and discoverable.
  • Senator and members of congress doing insider trading : good. Other people doing insider trading : bad.
  • Reminds me of a time about 15 years ago joined a Yahoo pool room to find it populated entirely with credit card thieves talking shop.

    • Reminds me of a time about 15 years ago joined a Yahoo pool room to find it populated entirely with credit card thieves talking shop.

      Think that's bad? I joined a chess group and all the time it felt like my phone wouldn't stop vibrating.

  • Not the top entry, but obviously xbox chat is fully logged, sometimes monitored and may well get archived. There are enough cases where "gamers" are primarily there to insult and threaten others and for that you need the logs. Incidentally, I expect all game chat with vendor run servers is logged and kept for a while.

    Also a nice example that "I cannot imagine it so it must not be possible" is not an useful security evaluation.

    Incidentally, here are some guesstimates:
    Assume the average gamer is chatting 10%

  • ... using the traditional way of transmitting this info: verbally in a noisy bar. Still want to play stocks?

  • "I GOT NORTON" is out.

    "Signal, or like Xbox 360 chat, there’s no tracing that, good luck ever finding that" is in.

    Right now Discord's probably got a few thousand servers that exist to facilitate one sort of scam or another based on the confidence that there's so many child groomer servers there's no way the company could continue to exist if it ever cooperated with the authorities.

    That tree is gonna get shaken hard if any abused kid grows up, becomes a billionaire, and decides to buy it and dump it al

  • This reminds me of the Qualstar insider trading case

    You can watch a video recording of this insider trading case here

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • The ruling class ain't called the ruling class because they follow the rules -- they make the rules for the peasants to follow.

    Corporations don't hire peasants. They hire sociopaths willing do anything for a buck.

    The real news story would finding one decent, honest person who could survive -- or even thrive -- in a big-money corporate culture.

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