Suppose an employee sneaks into his CFO’s office, reads secret files about an upcoming positive earnings announcement, and then buys the company’s stock before that announcement. Is the employee guilty of unlawful insider trading? Of course.
But suppose instead that a thief, who does not work at the company, breaks into its headquarters via a basement window at midnight, and orchestrates the same scheme. Is the thief guilty of insider trading? Historically, no—because a thief is just a thief, not a securities swindler.
