Three executives of the credit-reporting agency Equifax sold nearly $2 million worth of company stock within days of a massive data breach potentially affecting 143 million Americans — one that wasn’t publicly disclosed until more than a month later.
In a statement, Equifax says the executives “had no knowledge that an intrusion had occurred at the time they sold their shares.”
Equifax revealed the security breach late Thursday. On Friday, its stock price went sliding by double digits as millions of Americans struggled to get answers from the company about whether they were affected and what to do next. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has opened an investigation into the hack.
The credit reporting company has said that it discovered “unauthorized access” to its systems on July 29. The intrusion potentially jeopardized sensitive details including names, birthdates, Social Security and driver’s license numbers. The hackers also stole credit card numbers for 209,000 consumers.
Regulatory filings show the three Equifax executives — Chief Financial Officer John Gamble, U.S. Information Solutions President Joseph Loughran and Workforce Solutions President Rodolfo Ploder — completed stock sales on Aug. 1 and 2.
via NPR
Okay, so maybe you find it hard to believe that these guys, particularly the Information Solutions President were kept in the dark by their underlings about the massive hack. So does (almost) everyone else on the planet. But these guys aren’t worried. You see, in order for someone to be prosecuted for insider trading, someone has to charge them with a crime. What are the odds that the Trump/Sessions Justice Department will do that, because, funny thing, the greatest concentration of people who believe what these guys are saying happen to work for the Justice Department. At least, that’s my prediction. I’m happy to take bets on this one.
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