The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regularly monitors trades on the Street (Wall Street). An SEC investigator was tipped off to an insider trading scam based on one suspicious trade. John Smith, a retired programmer, made more than fifty million dollars, a ten-fold return, on his two-day investment in options from Apple-Pear Corporation. His investment was made after the company announced last Monday that it would be acquired by Samsang Industries which caused the stock to jump by 40 percent. SEC investigators said it was John's friend, Sam Adams, a former EF Hutton bond researcher, who made the trades. Adams apparently was involved with Jack Daniels, a Silverman Sachs mergers and acquisitions analyst, the firm that handled the Apple-Pear Corporation/Samsang Industries merger.
What crimes, if any, have been committed? What theory of insider trading applies to each person? What viable defenses, if any, may be raised?
Please cite applicable federal regulations, statutes or cases in support of your analysis.