If you are in an insider trading ring and your ring-buddies are using a “nickname” of any kind for you or others involved, it is all but certain that the nickname is going to be prominently mentioned when the SEC issues its press release about the case.
Today’s case involving the so-called “Octopussy” was a good reminder of that. In case you missed it, the SEC was quick to note in its announcement of the case today that a key defendant in the case, Zvi Goffer, “was known as ‘the Octopussy’ within the insider trading ring due to his reputation for having his arms in so many sources of inside information.” Enforcement Director Rob Khuzami reportedly brought that up again at the press conference today, stating that the SEC had “caught Octopussy.”
