“Gossip boys”: insider trading and regulatory ambiguity

Purpose – The purpose of this viewpoint, case study analysis paper is to assist in understanding how history repeats itself in the case of insider trading, even with regulatory intervention. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative methodology approach, using interviews of some of the watchdogs of Wall Street (SEC, US Attorney's Office) during the insider trading scandals of the 1980s. Key themes including ambiguity of money, regulation, and the networks of financial institution professionals are discussed. Findings – Findings suggest that regulation is difficult if nearly impossible, in the face of limited resources and regulatory ambiguity. Practical implications – This paper suggests a network approach to regulators, corporate decision makers, and academics in order to understand the structure of insider trading conspiracies. Originality/value – Continues the tradition of qualitative research in a niche of white-collar crime that is more often approached with strict statistic analysis. Value is that the data are allowed to “speak for themselves” and patterns of structure are allowed to emerge without prior biases of hypotheses.