Usually there is a sort of assumed propagation of the insider's duty to keep the info private. Edge cases (my brother-in-law the VP of Ford has started drinkin

Usually there is a sort of assumed propagation of the insider's duty to keep the info private. Edge cases (my brother-in-law the VP of Ford has started drinking heavily and having panic attacks, so I short the stock) and further degrees of removal are of course trickier. There is also a distinction between the SEC's civil remedies, which theoretically can reach out at a few degrees of separation (eg the Phil Mickelson case recently, where IIRC he unknowingly profited from a tip relayed from a guy who got it from an insider), and criminal liability.