[djhn]

I completely agree with you, but this isn't mutually exclusive with facing retaliation (in terms of internal politics, for instance.)

[shostack]

That's more to the point I was getting at. There's the legal situation, and then the political one. Selling shares in a private company could raise some red flags from management thinking an employee wants to cash out and bail, management worried about the perception of the company's health (internally and externally), management concerns about loss of control, etc.

All reasons why managers might make life difficult for said employee after the fact.