Dracca's Senior Vice President of Sales, Bob Marley, and one of his sales representatives, Bill Farian, were on a conference call and learned that Dracca's new line of high chairs was going to be recalled the next day. During the call, Farian stated, "This won't be good for stock prices." After the call ended, Marley and Farian immediately contacted their brokers and sold a large portion of their interests in Dracca shares.
Very Good Vinyls (VGV) was a plastic company that periodically purchased used equipment from Dracca's plant where the new line of high chairs was produced. In 2009, VGV purchased a 750-ton injection-molding machine from Dracca for $150,000. Because of the good relationship between VGV and Dracca, Dracca extended credit to VGV for the equipment. Last month, VGV sold the injection-molding machine to a small start-up company for $1,500 two days before filing bankruptcy. VGV still owes Dracca $100,000 for the machine.
In light of these facts, please respond to the following questions using course material and credible outside research to support your findings. A minimum of one paragraph per question is necessary to adequately address the questions posed. Please submit the paper in APA format.
a) Did Marley and Farian commit any securities violations? Please explain the reasons for your conclusion. What factors might the court consider in conducting such an analysis? Would the analysis be different for Marley than Farian? Why or why not?
b) Presuming Farian's statement "This won't be good for stock prices" could be considered disclosure of plan to trade on the nonpublic information, would Farian's sale of stock be a section 10(b) violation? Would it be ethical? Why or why not?
c) Discuss the legal and ethical issues associated with VGV's action in selling the molding machine before filing bankruptcy. What recourse does Dracca have in recovering the monies still owed on the equipment?
d) What actions (internal and external) do you recommend to Dracca to remedy the ethical and legal considerations of this scenario?