Holiday Cheer: Hedge Fund manager found guilty of insider trading.

[No Elephants]

I guess that's pretty Grinchy of me. He probably has many loved ones whose heart this will break this season.

On the other hand, while he faces up to 85 years, actual punishment tends to pretty light.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/19/us-sac-steinberg-idUSBRE9BG11420131219

[Enthusiast]

1. There has been a public clamor for punishing these

miscreants. They probably chose this particular individual (sacrificial lamb) because he wouldn't cooperate in some sense. There is an army of these fuckers that need to be locked up.

[No Elephants]

2. Martha Stewart went to jail while Madoff was fleecing people.

But, I did not feel too bad about that because I thought she was guilty.

A broker would never have called a small investor with a heads up, but a billionaire like Martha would get that call. Did she know she was getting inside info that she was not allowed to trade on? I don't know, but "ignorance of the law is no excuse" or everyone would plead ignorance. (Actually, I am not sure that even applies because she may have gone to jail for the cover up, not the original trade. I don't remember now.)

But, relative to Madoff, she did not really hurt anyone. The people who failed to disclose the inside info to the general public were the real culprits.

As several US Presidents have told us, though, life is unfair.

I thought she behaved well once she was convicted. Don't know what she was like in private, but, in public, she didn't whine, but just picked up the pieces as best she could.

When I found about Madoff, I was annoyed that he had not been stopped years earlier.