Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, disney, marvel, MVL

Charges Made Over Marvel Comics Insider Trading

Published Thu, 11 Aug 2011 20:48:33 -0500

The financial press are reporting that the Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Toby Scammell, the boyfriend of a former Disney intern with insider trading.

They allege that he heard about the impending purchase from his girlfriend's paperwork and phone conversations in 2009, when she worked at Disney's corporate strategy department, and subsequently bought Marvel call options, the right to buy certain shares at a certain price at a certain time. before the announcement that Disney were to buy Marvel at a higher-than-market value. Scammell was then able to sell those options on for over $192,000 profit according to the SEC.

Indeed, at certain times they report, Scammell was the only one in the market buying such options for Marvel – which brought him attention when the sale was announced. However his attourney has responded to the charges saying;

"The SEC's accusation against Toby is false. And it is disturbing that the SEC would bring a case that is so lacking in evidence, and so riddled with distortions and inaccuracies… At no point did Toby receive material non-public information regarding Disney's acquisition of Marvel from his girlfriend or anyone else–nor is there a shred of evidence or testimony to suggest he did… After nearly 18 months of investigation — where the SEC spoke to every possible witness, scrutinized every document, and analyzed every email, every text, every instant message, and every website Toby visited — the SEC still cannot identify a day, a time, a place, a conversation, a document, or anything bearing even a passing resemblance to proof as to how Toby supposedly learned the inside information."

Tony he does have the kind of name that, if he existed in the Marvel Universe, would instantly tag him as the bad guy. Thankfully we live in the real universe… don't we?

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