IBM, Intel Execs Arrested Over Insider Trading 198
An anonymous reader writes to share a report from The Register stating that executives from IBM and Intel have been arrested as a part of insider trading allegations. "According to a report from the Associated Press, six people were arrested today as part of an insider trading case, including Bob Moffat, senior vice president and general manager of IBM's Systems and Technology Group; Rajiv Goel, director of strategic investments at Intel Capital; Anil Kumar, a director at management consultancy McKinsey & Co; and Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of the $7bn Galleon Group hedge fund."
Corrupt Complete. (Score:3, Interesting)
Bob Moffat et al (Score:5, Interesting)
Nice. So executives at Intel, IBM, Bear Stearns, and McKinsey were tipping off a Billionaire hedge fund manager. Any wonder _how_ he made those Billions, then? And all of them massive contributors to politicians. How nice. These idiots should all go to jail, for a very long time. Maybe, use the per capita income of ordinary Americans to judge their prison terms; 25M/43k/yr = 500 years between them. Some of them _might_ get out in time to die.
andy
Re:Insider trading is only for board members (Score:4, Interesting)
I blame Gordon Gekko. No joke. Ever read Oliver Stone's comments about Wall Street? He's horrified by how many stockbrokers and money managers and accountants and traders come up to him and say, "Thanks. That movie changed my life." Gordon Gekko, who said he made 800 thou on his first real estate deal, and it was better than sex, but now it's just a day's pay. Gekko only got caught because he made the mistake of angering a protege who got too close. The latest batch of Gekko wannabes won't make that mistake.
Seriously, if anyone with inside information wanted to cash in on it, how difficult would it be not to get caught? Just make sure not to leave a trail or be obvious about it. In fact, this is probably factored in to every valuation - as a kind of value leakage, a toll. The cost of doing business. Things could only have gotten a lot more sophisticated since Gekko was king. We're only seeing the tip of the iceberg.
Re:Well now... (Score:5, Interesting)
I totally agree with you.
These people are going to have the very very best investigators, experts, and lawyers. They are going to examine every nook and cranny of the case in the attempt to find one little crack of reasonable doubt that will enable them to beat the rap.
The FBI doesn't just need to dot every i and cross every t, they need to develop a case so tight that even the most moronic juror will see the wrong clear as day, when the best lawyers in the world are trying to obscure everything.
On top of that, the US Attorneys don't like to go to trial unless they have a slam dunk. Losing makes them (and their administration) look bad--and image is sooo important!!
Bottom line is that the FBI had to work their ass off to get the goods on these guys and we should all damn well appreciate it!
Re:No, they are guilty of the ONLY crime in busine (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, it's not like there aren't any good, ethical people even at the highest levels of corporate power. There are good, ethical politicians, too. Heck, I've met some of both.
But in both cases, you have two things working against there being a preponderance of ethical people. First, power tends to attract high functioning sociopaths. Second, and perhaps as a consequence of the first, you have a culture where corruption is seen as normal, a perk of one's position over other people.
People in positions of power are shielded from anything that can touch their comforting illusions about themselves. They believe that they deserve their positions because they are good people. They are good people because they are in those positions of power, sacrificing their superior selves to make the lives of we, the incompetent peons who need them to look after us, better. Of course they deserve a little on the side for such sacrifice!
You see, the terrible burden of such awesome responsibility entitles them to whatever they can take because the rules for little people don't apply to them.
Re:No, they are guilty of the ONLY crime in busine (Score:5, Interesting)
I knew a guy who had a collection of old/historical bibles. He always locked them up whenever a pastor came over, because he'd had too many of them stolen, by pastors.
Re:Well now... (Score:1, Interesting)
And remember that Ivan Boesky had to write a $400,000,000.00 check to the U.S. Government, and still do time. He was actually on my prison (Lompoc FPC) farm irrigation crew humping pipe with the rest of us through tall, wet grass.
(4 digit UID posting anon. for obvious reasons.)
Re:Insider trading is only for board members (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Well now... (Score:3, Interesting)
Not for federal crimes they don't. There's no parole in the federal system for crimes committed since November of 1987 - you do every minute of your sentence unless you can get it reversed somehow or you can get a pardon.
This is exactly what I'm talking about - people remember an article they read twenty years ago about some heinous felon getting early release. Lots of voters read that same article and started baying for blood. Politicians responded. You still think a guy can get 150 years in the federal pen and still get out before he's dead, but it doesn't work that way.
Re:Well now... (Score:2, Interesting)
Yes, that's why it's such a fucking scandal that the Bush administration was firing lawyers in Justice for political reasons.
Re:Well now... (Score:2, Interesting)
Dude, I've already shown what an ignorant cock and a liar you are.
And 70% of the people can see right through you now. You're not fooling anyone.
I'm just here to laugh at your stupid ass now. So keep on typing, right-wing boy! Every time you reply is another belly laugh from me.
BTW, conservatives are losers. They LOST the election, and it's all over but the crying. You big fucking baby. Eat it up. Haha.