The Emperor has no clothes on.

Maybe you have heard, or not, of the recent stock sell-off scandal at Biogen-Idec. There is an article about it in the Globe: click this

It would seem that some senior management team members sold off a bucket of stock just prior to announcing that one of their drugs for MS had proven fatal to a few patients.

Now the lead counsel for the company, Mr. Tom Bucknam, has resigned. But not before taking home $1.9 million from his stock sale.

Something in Denmark smells fishy to me here people.

How retarded does the senior management team think that their shareholders are, if they think that they aren't going to put 2 and 2 together and come up with 4?

If you had information that your stock was probably going to end up worth peanuts in a few days, don't tell me that you wouldn't sell it PRONTO.

And you know, it's always those Harbard/Yayle/Standferd MBA types who get into these kinds of shenanigans because most of them a.) think they are SO smart, and b.) need an awful lot of money to maintain a certain kind of lifestyle which include Land Rovers and soy lattes.

But of course everyone will feign complete innocence, profess their desire to comply fully with the SEC and then hope that the whole unpleasant business just floats on by. Then later they will congratulate themselves on being so very clever.

At least Mr. Bucknam will have $1.9 million to ease the trauma of having to resign in the wake of this scandal, although really - I think he should not be allowed to keep the money because quite frankly, he stole it.

Let me just say two things in the interest of full disclosure:
One: I used to work in the corporate communications department at Biogen and when I say "used to" I mean I left in '98. I know from the inside that it is all a load of b.s.
Two: If a company makes a drug that can help seriously ill people, it should be the patients choice to take it or not, provided that they are informed of all the risks.