Analyst charged with insider trading and fraud after leaking Apple sales data
Analyst charged with insider trading and fraud after leaking Apple sales data
A research analyst and a former executive who revealed insider information about Apple’s sales have both been charged, reports Reuters. Analyst John Kinnucan on Friday was charged with two counts of securities fraud, two counts of conspiracy and one count of insider trading from a civil case filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Between 2008 and 2010, Kinnucan allegedly paid insiders with cash, trips and other incentives for inside information regarding Apple. Kinnnucan then sold the information to hedge funds for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Separately, former SanDisk executive Don Barnetson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud. “I conspired with a consultant to provide confidential information with respect to my employer at the time, SanDisk Corp,” Barnetson said. Barnetson could faces up to five years in prison but could get leniency for his “substantial cooperation.” Kinnucan could faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the securities fraud counts and one of the conspiracy counts, and up to five years on the other conspiracy count. More →
Say goodbye to those jewel-cased CDs and say hello to music-filled microSDs. Universal Music Group, SONY BMG, Warner Music Group, and EMI Music in conjunction with Sandisk, have announced a new audio distribution platform called “slotMusic”. With slotMusic, you will be able to buy a microSD card filled with DRM-free, 320Kbps MP3 files. No DRM means that the music can be played on any system that has a microSD slot. They are even bundle with a USB reader so you can use it on your desktop, laptop or any other device that has a USB port. So far Best Buy and Walmart have agreed to sell the new slotMusic cards which are expected to arrive in time for the upcoming holiday season. It almost seems too easy to have been put together by the record labels. Nonetheless, we applaud their move to a distribution platform that removes DRM and lets us listen to our music where we want, when we want and on whichever device we want. We only wish they would use something a bit bigger than those “easy-to-lose” microSD cards. We bet that many phones on eBay will accidentally come with an unexpected bonus slotMusic card installed. Chime in and let us know what you think of this new audio format. Any chance it might keep you away from Pirate Bay?
Samsung was recently jilted by SanDisk, one of our favorite SD card and flash storage manufacturers, in a takeover attempt. SanDisk turned down nearly $6 billion from Samsung saying that it wasn’t really adequate – in many respects. It seems SanDisk doesn’t have any self-esteem issues there. Samsung has offered a $26-per-share cash sum but it doesn’t look like it’s enticing enough for the folks at SanDisk. Samsung CEO Yoon-Woo Lee says that SanDisk “continues to cling to unrealistic expectations on both its standalone market value and an appropriate merger price.” Is that an accurate assessment or words born out of rejection?
