<If material information is disclosed by management it must be publically disseminated rather than leaked to a private few. That is a fundamental cornerstone of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which was enacted to clear up some of the abuses that were quite common in the markets and to restore faith in the integrity of the markets after the great crash of '29.
I have little doubt that Alger's contention will find its way into court in spite of Alger's reluctance to sue. It raises cogent issues of privileged information and inequality in access to after-hours trading.>
hi Sam;
thanks for the clarifications, but 1st, a disclaimer. My prior post is an extreme crude summary of the bits and pieces, so it does not constitute an argument for or against the circumstance, whatever it may really be and however it is construed.
certainly, you may also have legitimate reasons to gripe about after-hrs trading etc., but SEC, FTC etc are supposed to be the watchdog (whether they are doing a good job is another matter.)
personally, i think there is a difference between outright fraud and mishandling a situation - and in between, a huge gray area. For example, the case of Centennial Tech is quite obvious. On the other hand, it is a waste of time, energy, and resources to sue every time things don't go our way. I don't know how much of the latter applies to this situation. Was Mr Algers being left out because he was a fund mgr and not one of the security analysts known to follow CSCC? Your guess is as good as mine. Robertson Stephens has just had a tech conf with many companies; obviously, it knows things before other security houses. In turn, they know a lot earlier than average joe like you and me. Is it fair? No, it is very unfair! Is it legal? Maybe or maybe not. Is it done routinely? You bet ya!
finally, i agree with you the disparity between small investors like us and the big clients should be torn down. I think it is good to push for reforms (by SEC, FTC, FCC or whoever.) On the other hand, my personal feeling is that frivolous suits only benefit the ambulance chasers.
regards
Bosco |
