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Questions tagged [securities]

This tag is for tradeable financial assets (securities)

69 questions
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Can Trump legally sell stocks on Friday, tweet about imposing tariffs on Sunday and then buy more of the stocks back on Monday?

Trump could have made a lot of money by selling stocks before tweeting about imposing tariffs on China and then buying more of them back when the price of the stocks has dropped. Would this fall under the ban on insider trading, or does insider…
Count Iblis
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Would it be illegal for Donald Trump to short twitter, then leave the platform?

Presumably if Trump were to stop tweeting and move to a different social media platform (e.g., Instagram), Twitter's value would decrease significantly (source estimating Trump's value to Twitter). Would it be illegal for him to short Twitter stock…
YPCrumble
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Is it legal to take advantage of loopholes in GAAP to misrepresent profit?

Per the title, say that "Jordan" discovers a previously-unknown loophole in GAAP which allows him to greatly finesse his company's financial statements. This significantly improves his company's apparent performance (which is in actuality quite…
In Hoc Signo
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Is an 'honest', tongue-in-cheek ponzi scheme ICO still illegal to operate?

I've just come across what appears to be a deliberate parody ICO known as PonziCoin. It declares itself to be "The World's First Legitimate Ponzi Scheme", on the grounds that it is open and transparent about its intentions to funnel late investors'…
Daniel Hume
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Can a natural person issue stock in a private project they’re working on?

I’m trying to find out about the legality of issuing stock in some project you’re working on if you’re just a natural person, by which I mean that you haven’t knowingly founded any sort of organization for the project. I’m most interested in the law…
Dawn Drescher
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Could the Intel CEO be accused of insider trading?

A few weeks back, the Intel CEO sold all the company shares he was allowed to. Yesterday, it was reported that a big security flaw existed in virtually all Intel processors sold in the last decade. Intel has known about it for several months and has…
Nico
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Would a poker buyin share voucher be a "security"?

Hello I am trying to learn more about securities and really confused by the laws regarding unregistered securities in the US. NJ state if that helps too. I made a scenario and I am needing help to understand if this would be legal or not. In online…
user3000992
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Is there a requirement to provide personal information other than identity to a financial institution to activate a Power of Attorney?

If a person has a durable power of attorney that becomes active in the event the Principal becomes disabled, is an investment company for the Principal required to obtain personal financial information, (such as income and net worth) from the…
Michael Hall
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Is it ever illegal to spread true facts with malicious intent?

Crimes such as defamation usually require that the statement being said is false - truth is an absolute defense. Are there any situations or jurisdictions where truth is not a defense against defamation, incitement to hatred, or similar crimes or…
Stack Exchange Broke The Law
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If I discover information about a company through personal investigation can I act on it without being guilty of insider trading?

Let's say I'm a skilled PI who has, through detailed investigation followed a paper trail back and discovered that Soylent Green is people! (err..spoiler warning?) I am now aware of information that is not public knowledge, but I have not 'stolen'…
dsollen
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What laws protect minority share holders from having their share rights changed by special resolution?

A special resolution done by majority share holders can simply change the rights of certain shares and make them useless. They can reduce the share's voting rights or reduce dividend payment.
user1034912
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If I'm about to do something that will cause a stock price to move, can I legally profit from it?

For example, suppose that instead of flying planes into the World Trade Center, Osama bin Laden had decided to fly planes into Microsoft Campus. He can therefore predict with high confidence that MSFT will crash. Can he legally buy MSFT puts prior…
Allure
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Using insider trading knowledge to trade on a competitor

In Australia, there are two major grocery companies, Woolworths and Coles. Now suppose I work for Woolworths and I become aware of a technological breakthrough that will dramatically increase the popularity and profitability of Woolworths which has…
Kenshin
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Trading authority and incapacitation

Person X gives Person Y the authority to trade person's X brokerage account and to take money out of the account for the benefit of person X. It is not a durable power. After some time, person Y has good reason to believe that person X is no longer…
Bob
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Do I need to take any legal precautions for my stock prediction app?

Suppose that a developer (D) creates an app that lets users enter a ticker and get an estimate for its future price. No other advice on whether to buy or sell will be displayed; only the forecasted price and some sort of error bounds will be shown…
turnip
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