Insider Trading Insider trading can be defined as the buying or selling of securities based on information that has not been made available to the public (Miller & Jentz, 2011). Laws have been enacted to protect the public from being victims of insider trading. Insider trading gives a company's employees a business advantage over the public and other shareholders (Miller & Jentz, 2011). The law is the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Sections 10b and SEC 10b-5 were added to the law to prevent insider trading (Miller & Jentz, 2011). There are many cases of insider trading that can be traced back centuries. In the late 1700s, William Duer is believed to have been involved in the first case of insider trading. In the 1920s, when the stock market crashed, Albert H. Wiggin became a multimillionaire (Beattie, 2013) through what is now considered insider trading. According to Andrew Beattie, Mr Wiggin short-sold his company by 40,000 shares. However, in the 1920s it was legal for him to short his company. At that time there were no rules against it. In the mid-1980s, one of the most famous cases of insider trading occurred. The SEC filed charges against four businessmen. Michael Milken, Dennis Levine, Martin Siegal and Ivan Boesky were charged with 98 counts of insider trading between them. However, not all accusations were leveled at them (Beattie, 2013). A Wall Street Journal columnist, R. Foster Winans, wrote an article regarding the stock of a certain company. Stockbrokers used his information to buy stocks based on the information he gave them before his article was published. Mr Winans is also believed to have profited from the information he provided (Beattie, 2013). Another scandal...... middle of paper......the insider trading case against Mathew Martoma, I agree with the jury's verdict. I don't think it's fair for one person to have the advantage of making money over people who aren't aware of what's happening. There are many people who are victims of insider trading. I think insider trading happens very often. I think there are a lot of people who haven't realized this yet. I was also surprised to learn that insider trading existed as early as the 1700s. I believe that in Martha Stewart's case, she actually thought she could get away with insider trading until she was convicted. I don't think insider trading will ever disappear. I believe that in the future it will be much worse than now. Someone will always find a way to hide what they are doing. Then again, maybe the SEC will find new ways to catch all the illegal activity going on with insider trading.