David Scheer of Bloomberg writes that the insider trading case against acquaintances of a Dow Jones & Co. board member who allegedly disclosed that News Corp. would make an offer for the parent of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Marketwatch before it became public is an important case for the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Scheer wrote, “While the circumstantial evidence raised suspicions, the SEC has yet to prove the couple tapped inside information. The high-profile case underscores both the speed with which the agency is bringing lawsuits against overseas investors and the difficulty of backing up the charges.
“There’s a lot at stake: If the top U.S. securities regulators can’t demonstrate they have global reach, their authority may be undercut as international investing surges.
“‘There’s immense damage to their credibility if they misfire’ and lose a prominent case they bring too hastily, says James Cox, a securities-fraud expert at the Duke University School of Law in Durham, North Carolina.”
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