Trading on the stock market is supposed to be fair and the risks involved applied equally to everyone involved. However, when a person is in possession of material, nonpublic information that allows them to profit by trading in stocks, this is considered to be "insider trading" and illegal. In addition, if a person possesses material, nonpublic information and passes that information on to another individual who then profits by making stock trades based on the information, then this is considered "tipping" and is also illegal. In the case of United States v. Bhagat, while the government failed to prove that Mr. Bhagat made his purchases on Nvidia stock based on the material, nonpublic information he received about Nvidia's contract with Microsoft, the fact that he made his purchases approximately twenty minutes after the information was sent in an email made it likely that he was involved in insider trading. (United...
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