In the high-power, high-risk game of details trading, Danielle Chiesi has become “a confirmation of all (individuals have) suspected is wrong with Wall Street and the hedge fund industry,” according to Fortune. Danielle Chiesi and former IBM exec Bob Moffat are charged with securities fraud.
How Danielle Chiesi got inside Wall Street
Owner of the Galleon hedge fund, Raj Rajaratnam, employed Danielle Chiesi as an information-gatherer. Danielle Chiesi’s stock in trade was data. When she was working for Galleon, Danielle targeted several companies and developed relationships with people inside those companies. By dressing very seductively and telling men she loved “sex, stocks, and sports,” Danielle was able to develop these relationships, according to Fortune. Danielle Chiesi is a previous beauty queen and sorority girl who was known on Wall Street as a significant seductress.
The accused crimes of seductress Danielle Chiesi
By developing relationships with top execs, Danielle was not doing anything illegal—but once she had the information, she did illegal things with it. By gathering and passing on inside data about tech stocks, Chiesi was allegedly participating in insider trading. Chiesi pleaded not guilty to the charges, and she is on trial right now.
The effects of insider trading
Insider trading can be a very difficult crime to both prove and understand. The idea of the stock market and stock trading is that every person is “betting” on stocks with the exact same data. When individuals get inside details from people who work at the business, they are able to buy or sell stocks before the data is public knowledge. In other words, people like Danielle Chiesi cheat the system. This is the exact same crime that Martha Stewart was convicted of. Danielle Chiesi proves that even tight-lipped execs can be seduced out of details. Is a financial system that could be gamed this easily one that we should be putting our money into?
