

Leaked Apple secrets lead to arrests - edw519
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/iPhone-secrets-among-tips-apf-2214513952.html?x=0

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kls
You know, I do the kind of consulting "not the inside trading part" they are
speaking about in this article. It pays very well, I was once contacted by the
company in question about doing some work and the numbers they where kicking
around where way out of the norm for this kind of work. 3 to 4 times the
standard hourly rate that most technologist charge for industry analysis.
Fortunately for me, I never knew the specifics of the gig and it did not
materialize. I can only assume that they targeted me due to my clientele list.
You really have to watch yourself in this line of consulting, it is really
easy to run afoul of some pretty serious crimes.

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iuguy
I wonder how often this happens, and what the value of the information being
provided to the hedge funds is. Anyone on HN got any information on the matter
they can share?

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kls
It happens a good deal, it is probably better if I just leave it at the
industry has a reputation for managers asking and consultants deciding if they
want to bite or not. There are some very reputable groups like Primary Insight
that work very hard to keep a legitimate consulting network, while others
actively seek out inside trader consultants.

As to the value, the $400k they paid these guys is peanuts to what they make
on this kind of info. If you have billions that you can move in the market and
someone tells you "oh hey, Apple is building a tablet and it is going to drop
this quarter, their internal market analysis looks like they will sell 3
million units in this quarter", you have basically just been given the keys to
the mint. Because you are able to time you investment to the date range in
which the tablet will drop. Meaning you don't need to tie that capital up
speculating on when it will drop. The value is easily in the billions of
dollars. I am surprised the "consultants" sold the secrets for so little
actually.

