Insider Trading & Martha Stewart - A Primer by Prof. Stephen Bainbridge

UCLA law professor Stephen Bainbridge has a nice post about insider trading. He uses the Martha Stewart case as a discussion point:

"I don’t particularly like Martha Stewart’s public persona. Like a lot of people, I get a vicarious little thrill out of seeing the high and mighty brought low. But charging her with insider trading stretches that crime beyond where it was ever meant to go."

I can see how people get confused about exactly what behavior constitutes "illegal insider trading." When people get confused about legal issues they tend to conflate undesirable behavior with illegal behavior. It's good to have a legal expert on hand to help clarify things.