[throwaway789256]

Tying insider trading to a Bloomberg reporter is very rare, although it has happened before, and I linked to one instance above.

Because it is rare, it is newsworthy, particularly for the Columbia Journalism Review. Even if you don't care about journalism, the fact that one of the world's great news organizations and news wires has ties to insider trading should concern you and Bloomberg's top editors, because it's dirty. You just don't want your reporters abetting crimes if you can avoid it.

My guess is that Hammond will not last long at Bloomberg. This story is more about the reporter than about the insider trading. And it is less about the law, and more about journalistic ethics. It doesn't matter whether it is illegal for the reporter to tell Peltz that the story will come out soon; it is certainly against his agreement with Bloomberg.

[downandout]

I don’t disagree. I was just saying that the talking to the reporter aspect didn’t actually have any relevance to the criminal charges - at least not to insider trading. I read the indictment after my comments and, at least from what I can tell, I was right. Though talking to the reporter is mentioned in the facts part of the indictment, it does not appear to be a basis for any of the charges. It’s more of an interesting footnote.