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The SEC complaint linked at the bottom of that page[1] literally has a minute-by-minute account of how the CIO of Equifax's US information systems business unit
by slavik81 9y ago
The SEC complaint linked at the bottom of that page[1] literally has a minute-by-minute account of how the CIO of Equifax's US information systems business unit was told there had been a major incident, started Googling about the stock market's reaction to a previous breach at Experian in 2015, and then an hour later sold all his shares for $950,000.
Maybe the CEO broke the law too, but the CIO left a clear trail of evidence. He is neither a little guy nor a fall guy.
[1]: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2018/comp-pr2018-40.pdf https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2018/comp-pr2018-4...
- joering2 9y agoThese days Google hands out your info to LE like its a street candy; it wasn't like this back in a day when I was a Noogler at least they had whole team looking at every single LE request; these days, I bet its just a blanket [select all], [accept]. Just another reason to switch to DuckDuck go, whether you are doing something shady or not.
- ytpete 9y agoAre you sure the information about his search history came from Google, as opposed to IT network logs or forensic examination of his computer? The complaint makes reference to "Ying’s internet browsing history" which sounds more likely to be one of the latter...
- slavik81 9y agoThe complaint doesn't actually say what search engine he used. Sorry, I probably shouldn't have used "googling" interchangeably with "searching".
- s73v3r_ 9y agoOr, and hear me out on this, maybe, just maybe, don't do shady things? This guy didn't get in trouble because he used Google. He got in trouble because he was breaking the law.
- ethbro 9y agoIt's always amazed me that the SEC standard is proving insider trading willfully took place. Which is a pretty high bar. How about... If we can prove you knew about it, we convict you. If we can't prove you knew about it, but your transactions appear to be insider trading to a jury, then you have to zero out the transactions (either by repurchasing equivalent stock or some other method). You don't get charged, but there's no "getting away with it" either.
- yuhong 9y agoI don't like the current debt based economy that is based on stocks going up anyway though.
- busterarm 9y agoHow about "guilty beyond all reasonable doubt" as a burden of proof for our systems of judgment. As much as that sucks sometimes. If the government can't prove its case, it probably shouldn't be getting to a jury either.
- ethbro 9y agoIt's pretty easy to cover your tracks if you're not an idiot and know what you're doing, and I assume a lot of the people that make big insider trading plays are neither. So hamstringing the SEC with an arbitrarily high standard just facilitates continued insider trading. Agreed on the full burden of proof for penalties. But having your gains clawed back is a different fish entirely.
- curun1r 9y ago
- busterarm 9y agoAs Stringer Bell said, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBdGOrcUEg8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBdGOrcUEg8
- kelukelugames 9y agoI'm surprised a C level exec can sell their shares like that. I thought they all had to announce ahead of time? I'm a lowly employee at a big tech company and I have blackout periods.
- ibejoeb 9y agoThey typically not required to provide advance notice (by law, at least,) but they often do set up a sell schedule in advance to show that they're not selling in response to non-public information. Sort of like developing data retention policy to avoid obstruction/anticipatory obstruction charges.
- QML 9y agoIn the SEC briefing, it is noted that there were two teams deployed: Project Sierra and Project Sparta. Only Sierra had knowledge that Equifax itself was breached and thus a blackout period was instituted. But not for Sparta where the CIO was assigned.
- current-equifax 9y agoI'm an Equifax employee...I can confirm this. I heard about "Project Sparta" constantly, but didn't know until the day of the public announcement what it was. I had no idea it was Equifax that was breached until everyone else did. I never even heard about "Project Sierra" at my level.
- QML 9y agoIt’s not as black and white as it seems: the CIO was not directly told that Equifax itself had suffered a breach, simply that one of their clients had been. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-15/is-insider-guessing-illegal https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-15/is-inside... [2] page 6 of https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2018/comp-pr2018-40.pdf https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2018/comp-pr2018-4...
- chris_wot 9y agoI have to agree. He literally knew about the breach and then sold them. He's definitely got to go down, I'm sure he knew that what insider trading is.
- davidkuhta 9y agoJust clarifying this in case it wasn't clear for others. There is an Equifax global CIO above the Equifax US Info Systems business unit CIO. Global CIO knew, Info Sys CIO inferred.