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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

Supreme Court Weighs in on Insider Trading in Salman v United States

Courts Criminal Enforcement U.S. Supreme Court

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In its first insider trading decision in nearly two decades, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously to uphold an insider trading conviction of an individual who traded while aware of material non-public information received from a friend who received no financial benefit in exchange. Salman v. United States, No. 15-628, 2016 WL 7078448 (U.S. Dec. 6, 2016).

The defendant in Salman was convicted in 2013 for trading on confidential information obtained through his brother-in-law even though Salmon he gained no tangible financial benefit. The appeal thus presented the Justices with the central question of how to define a “personal benefit” garnered from insider information. In upholding Salman’s conviction, the Supreme Court affirmed that a user of financial tips breaches fiduciary duty with respect to “insider information” from a relative, whether or not the person giving the information receives a tangible financial benefit. In so holding, the Court also undercuts a narrower interpretation in a case decided by the Second Circuit in 2014 that held that the person who provides the tips must receive something of value in exchange for inside information given to family or friends.