But the judge rejected Chastain’s contention about the limits of the wire fraud law, because he isn’t accused of insider trading “in the classic sense of the term” and isn’t charged with securities fraud. Furman cited a Supreme Court case upholding the wire fraud conviction of a Wall Street Journal columnist who was found guilty of sharing details of upcoming columns with traders, saying that the court found that the publication and contents of the column were “property” in the meaning of the law.
“No court has suggested, let alone held, that conviction in such a case requires trading in securities or commodities,” Furman said, adding in a footnote that the term “insider trading” may be misleading and that the appropriate solution may be to strike the phrase from the indictment.
Source: OpenSea NFT Ex-Employee Must Face Insider Trading Charges – Bloomberg
