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I might be wrong, but let me venture this:

No. US v O'Hagan did not establish misappropriation as "insider trading". It established it as fraud, and as an SEC §10(b), which covers a broad range of securities fraud that is not describable as insider trading.

The syllabus for the case itself seems to be at pains to distinguish misappropriation from insider trading.

The importance of the distinction is that the Capital One case is something the spirit and letter of the law wants to deter, while satellite imagery of commercial activity isn't, despite it too being an example of market actors leveraging their own access and assets to gain an advantage in the market.

I eagerly await correction. :)




If this is just a terminology debate, O'Hagan-style misappropriation theory cases are called "insider trading" cases by nearly everyone, including the SEC[1], the Justice Department[2] and the SDNY (a judge recently issued an opinion discussing "insider-trading cases prosecuted under a misappropriation theory"). They are usually contrasted with "classical theory" insider trading cases.

[1] http://www.sec.gov/answers/insider.htm

[2] http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/December13/Wei...


Conceding! Conceding! Eject! Eject! Eject! :)


I believe that misappropriation theory is jurisprudence developed from 10(b) so a defendant would be found guilty with respect to 10(b), a "fraud".

http://www.sec.gov/answers/insider.htm (search for "lawyers")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insider_trading#Misappropriatio...

http://meyersandheim.com/how-to-win-an-insider-trading-case/ (misappropriation section)


The misappropriation references in this speech:

http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/speecharchive/1998/spch221.ht...

also clarify the relationship, which according the SEC revolve around the obligations of "trust and confidence".

I got the alternate impression from reading the O'Hagan syllabus and 10b-5 itself. Oh well!.

I've pushed this point far past a point at which I'm comfortable defending it. :)




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