Matt Levine, Columnist

Illegal Stock Tips and Risky Loans

Also bailouts, Goldman paranoia, sanctions, director independence and GSEs.

October 5, 2016 at 1:17 PM UTC

Matt Levine is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, he was a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; a clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit; and an editor of Dealbreaker.

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

Insider trading.

I don't know what else there is to say about the Salman insider trading case being argued before the Supreme Court today, but I guess Salman's and the government's lawyers will find something. If you pass inside information about an upcoming merger to your brother, without receiving a personal benefit in return, is that illegal insider trading? I'm pretty sure the answer is yes, but the exact mechanics of how the court gets to yes will determine who else can pass what sorts of information to whom without going to prison.