Shareholder crimes

You are the new training manager for a large corporation that offers employees the opportunity to purchase company stock directly through their paychecks. Using the following scenario and other recent real-life examples, develop a training session for the employees of the company. The goal of the training session presentation is to accomplish the following:

Identify the crime.

Explain what federal agency would prosecute the crime.

What punishment(s) could be enforced?

Provide other real-life examples of people who have committed this crime.

SCENARIO

Jack and Diane are married and both executives at Electro-Source, a large multinational electronics company. The couple holds substantial Electro-Source company stock and the majority of their retirement funds depend on company stock performance.

Jack is a director within the marketing division, and Diane is a vice president in charge of all North American sales. One Friday, Jack advises Diane that the company lost a large government contract for new electronic components. The contract was worth over US$1 billion in sales and the loss could signal large layoffs. Government officials have not publicly announced their contract decision; however, they have advised, privately and confidentially, several nonwinning bidders, including executives at Electro-Source.

Jack and Diane decide to immediately sell the majority of their company stock to protect their retirement savings. The market on that Friday was favorable toward Electro-Source stock as earlier reports indicated that Electro-Sources was a finalist for the contract; however, as stated, a final decision was not public yet. Jack and Diane sell their stock to unsuspecting investors through their personal broker.