Insider Trading Scandal - What Happened?

On March 1st 13 people were charged by the U.S. Government with securities fraud, wire fraud, bribery, including employees at major Wall Street banks. UBS and Morgan Stanley charts were also part of it. Insider trading is illegal because it gives people an unfair advantage over the others. The insider trading schemes involved Securities executives who were accused of selling information about upcoming analyst upgrades and downgrades. They were accused of giving out information about mergers and acquisitions. It was said two brokers were involved in blackmailing . They made profits of about $15 millionover the years. This is very unfair to the rest of the people who are trying to make money the right way, without any illegal activities. Insider trading is very dangerous because I believe it ruins your whole reputation if you are part of it. If I were to buy stocks of a certian company and suddenly its stocks went up, of which almost nobody expected, it would a little bit suspicious for many. I believe this is why this case was investigated and was found what these people were doing illegaly.