insider rolodex · the named ledger
entry · 1986–ongoing · status: live · this list updates with the live monitor
the prior on insider trading
Every market in human history has been an information asymmetry made tradeable. The legal architecture that defines "insider trading" is roughly 90 years old (Securities Exchange Act of 1934). The trade itself is older than the law that names it. What follows is a working ledger of who was named, what they took, what happened to them. The pattern repeats across decades. The names rotate. The chair stays warm.
// wall street · the operators
| name | year | profit / take | outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ivan Boesky arbitrageur |
1986 | $200M+ illegal gains | 3 years served · $100M then-record fine · cooperator → Milken |
| Michael Milken Drexel Burnham |
1989 | $600M penalty | 22 months of 10-yr sentence · current net worth ~$3.7B |
| Raj Rajaratnam Galleon Group |
2009-11 | $63.8M illegal profit | 11 years · longest insider sentence ever · first wiretapped financial case |
| Rajat Gupta McKinsey · Goldman board |
2012 | tipster · ~$17M Galleon gains tied to him | 2 years served · called Rajaratnam 23 sec after Goldman board meeting |
| Steven A. Cohen SAC → Point72 |
2013 | SAC fined $1.8B | never criminally charged · 2-yr supervisory ban · relaunched as family office · ~$15B net worth |
| Mathew Martoma SAC trader |
2014 | $276M Elan/Wyeth Alzheimer's trade | 9 years · refused to cooperate against Cohen |
| Phil Mickelson PGA · via Billy Walters |
2017 | $931K Dean Foods trade | SEC settlement only · DOJ declined to charge · Walters got 5 years |
| Bill Hwang Archegos family office |
2021 | $30B+ in market-moving positions | 18 years · banks did not know about each other · opacity was the regulatory framework |
// government · the rule-makers
| name | year | trade | outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) Sen. Intel chair |
2020-02 | sold $1.6M post-Covid briefing | probe closed Jan 2021 · no charges |
| Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) husband NYSE chair |
2020-02 | $20M+ sold · bought Citrix, DuPont (PPE) | probe closed · no charges |
| Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) | 2020-02 | $1.5–6M sold pre-crash | probe closed · no charges · pattern bipartisan |
| Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) | 2020-02 | stocks sold same window | no action |
| Robert Kaplan Dallas Fed President |
2021-09 | millions in individual stocks during emergency policy | resigned · no charges |
| Eric Rosengren Boston Fed President |
2021-09 | REIT trades while overseeing real-estate rate policy | resigned · no charges |
| Richard Clarida Fed Vice Chair |
2022-01 | millions repositioned 3 days before Powell rate cut | resigned 2 weeks early · no charges · "rebalancing" |
| Paul Pelosi spouse of Speaker Pelosi |
2021–present | consistent S&P outperformance · $5M Nvidia calls July 2024 pre-CHIPS | disclosed under STOCK Act · never investigated |
| Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) | 2020–present | repeatedly cited late STOCK Act filings · agribusiness positions while on Ag Committee | $200 fines · no charges |
// crypto · the new sector
| name | year | scheme | outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ishan Wahi Coinbase product manager |
2022-07 | $1.5M tipping brother on listing announcements (14 mos) | 2 years · first crypto insider trading conviction |
| Nikhil Wahi | 2022 | received tips from brother Ishan | 10 months |
| Nate Chastain OpenSea product manager |
2022 | bought NFTs minutes before homepage feature | 3 months · first NFT insider conviction |
| Hayden Davis (Kelsier) LIBRA / Milei launch |
2025-02 | pulled $87M LP · -95% in hours · "take liquidity to get the snipers out" | civil litigation pending · NYT call logs to Milei (Apr 2026) |
| pump.fun bundle wallets platform-side coordination |
2024-26 | 5,000 leaked messages · coordinated buys within seconds of public launch | class action pending · "the platform was the insider" |
| B91 sniper bot operator | 2025 | 78,800 victim wallets in 30 days · pump.fun MEV extraction | unindicted |
| $TRUMP / $MELANIA insiders | 2025-01 | 58 wallets profited · 813,294 lost · MELANIA: $681K → $39M in 64 sec | no charges · disclosed publicly · the structure was the insider |
| DJT options pre-merger Trump Media |
2024 | ~250% surge · multiple SEC inquiries on pre-announcement options | no charges as of Apr 2026 |
| Polymarket "Burdensome-Mix" | 2026-04 | $32,500 → $436,000 betting on Maduro 3 days before US seizure | probe opened · live |
| CBS-Iran oil futures shorter unidentified |
2026-04 | oil futures shorted 47 minutes before Trump's CBS Iran interview | probe opened · live (BBC reporting) |
// pattern recognition
- The operator goes to prison. The seat at the table does not. Rajaratnam, Martoma, Wahi, Chastain — convicted. The boards, regulators, and platform-owners they fed off were not.
- The bigger the structural position, the lower the conviction rate. Cohen never charged. Senators never charged. Fed officials never charged. Pattern is consistent across 14 years of disclosure.
- Crypto follows the same curve. The product managers go down (Wahi, Chastain). The platform principals do not. Pump.fun's lawsuit names patterns; the founders are still named platform owners.
- The fine is the cost of doing business. The trade is the business. SAC paid $1.8B. SAC's cumulative profits across its operating life were estimated at $30B+. The math is intentional.
"the trade itself is rarely the punishable act. the misclassification of who has the right to know is."