Insider trading is normal, routine, and rampant, across corporate America. When people get caught, it's usually because another insider snitched; and it's a sta

Insider trading is normal, routine, and rampant, across corporate America. When people get caught, it's usually because another insider snitched; and it's a standard part of dirty corporate politics. At a company I used to work for, our CIO was found out to have lied about his educational background on his resume; after working there 15 years. Another board member had been sitting on this dirt for at least 5 years. He had hired a PI to dig up things about the executive staff. It was his opening move on pushing out the old execs, and replacing them with a more acquisition-friendly line up. Then said board member cashed out. We would frequently also see large blocks of stock traded the day before a big earnings announcement. Only the executive staff would have had that information. Us line employees all had stock options, but were never able to take optimal advantage of price swings, because someone else was beating us to it. We only had the public information. It is routine and the SEC does not give a fuck, unless the case becomes high profile enough that the press will write about it and make a stink.