and/or greedy.
Even if you're "smart" about it, you can only hit so many lottery tickets before you come under suspicion.
I'd bet the best way to get away with insider trading is to do it once, make under $1 million, then walk the hell away and never speak of it.
18 U.S. Code § 1001 - Statements or entries generally
The lie is a felony but only when connected to a federal matter. [2] [3] [4]
[1] This used to mean (many moons ago) something of very high quality. However, as our government became ever more like what is _now_ our government, the idiom took on the opposite meaning: good enough to say it's done, so we can move on from it. It's also used to say when something is correct for the discussion but not in the broader sense. Source? My neighbor the FBI agent told me, and I've heard it in action many times since then.
[2] https://www.pagepate.com/experience/criminal-defense/federal...
[3] https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual...
[4] https://www.mololamken.com/knowledge-Is-It-a-Crime-To-Lie-to...
The SEC and the IRS are police.
Obligatory repost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE&t=612s
Pretty much anyone could spot insider trading patterns. I’d be willing to bet these guys were making bets only on Netflix in the form of short-dated options most of which typically expire worthless. If someone were to repeatedly aggressively buy low probability short-dated options around an event like earnings and win consistently you would be able to infer that they are trading on insider knowledge.
Of course recognizing the pattern is only half the battle. They also have to figure out how they are accessing the inside info, hence tracing the traders back to Netflix employees and conversations they had regarding paybacks, etc.
Also, she was convicted for LYING about insider trading.
She lied repeatedly to investigators saying among other things that it was a pre-arranged trade. The person that tipped her off admitted everything though.
She went to jail for lying to investigators, obstructing justice, etc. And still had to pay a $195,000 civil fine for the insider trading!!
Source: https://biography.yourdictionary.com/articles/why-did-martha...
Even if you lost money the one time you did it, I'd probably still recommend doing it approximately once.
That's not rational, of course, but humans aren't rational.
If you are very rich they dont throw you in jail.
Besides, unless you're already wealthy it's harder to hide the theft of huge sums of money.