as others have said. it’s both. you don’t have to be an employee, you just need advance access to privileged knowledge that no one else has. an unfair advantage granted to you by proximity to the decision makers who cause the market to react.
if a Senator is on a committee that meets behind closed doors to vote on whether a bill will move forward or die in committee, and he tells his wife to go buy/sell certain stocks (before the vote is publicly announced)… pretty sure most people would call that insider trading.
whether Musktrump alerted their own wealth manager or their private equity and oligarch buddies about the exact timing of certain key decisions which would impact stock valuations or securities, is a matter to be investigated. but it seems pretty fucking likely.
besides, it’s irrelevant what the law defines at this point… no one in the administration will face an inquiry or be held accountable for this.
as others have said. it’s both. you don’t have to be an employee, you just need advance access to privileged knowledge that no one else has. an unfair advantage granted to you by proximity to the decision makers who cause the market to react.
if a Senator is on a committee that meets behind closed doors to vote on whether a bill will move forward or die in committee, and he tells his wife to go buy/sell certain stocks (before the vote is publicly announced)… pretty sure most people would call that insider trading.
whether Musktrump alerted their own wealth manager or their private equity and oligarch buddies about the exact timing of certain key decisions which would impact stock valuations or securities, is a matter to be investigated. but it seems pretty fucking likely.
besides, it’s irrelevant what the law defines at this point… no one in the administration will face an inquiry or be held accountable for this.