Re: Is This Insider Trading?
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As others have pointed out, 2 & 3 are not insider trading, but I think there is a strong case that situation 1 violates Rule 10b-5. You have a fiduciary duty to the shareholders of your company and that duty prevents you from profiting from material, non-public information. If you use that information for you own gain in connection with the purchase or sale of a security, you have defrauded the principal's out of its right to exclusive use of that information in a way that triggers 10b-5. This is known as the misappropriation theory of insider trading and, even though it is vague and a real stretch of the language of 10b-5, it is used with regularity.
I actually know of a situation that mirrors hypo 1--we looked for cases and couldn't find any. Nevertheless, we counseled that there was a real danger of liability for misappropriation.
In this situation the SEC or DOJ would almost certainly file a complaint and, unless you had a lot of resources, one would do well to plea to any reasonable offer.
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What if "my" company was a proprietorship? What if this "insider" information is thoughts in your head? Say you own a large private corporation and you're the single largest customer of some publicly held supplier. For whatever reason, you decide that you will terminate that relationship. Is it insider trading to short that supplier's stock? What about in the reverse case where you buy ahead of the decision to give a contract to some company?
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