Todd Newman and Anthony Chiasson’s appeals of their insider trading convictions hinge on a fairly nit-picky legal point about jury instructions, although an important one that has an appeals court pretty riled up.1 But I don’t really think that the appeal has gotten so much attention, or gotten judges so riled up, or raised concerns about “undercut[ting] one of [U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s] greatest achievements,” just because of an academic debate about jury instructions. The bigger problem seems to be that Newman and Chiasson appear to be innocent.
via These ‘Greedy Wall Streeters’ Just Don’t Seem Guilty – Bloomberg View