3. Consider the following statement: "Insider trading should not be illegal. In a fre&-market economy, individuals who have the motivation and intelligence to gather information that allows them to make a lot of money should not be prevented from capitalizing on the information they have collected. • Do you agree or disagree with the statement? Explain your reasoning. The stock market is supposed to be a place where you can increase your assets over time if you invest wisely and have patience. But some people don't want to trust their financial situation to unpredictable markets, so they come up with creative (often illegal) ways to manipulate the market to ensure that they will get a positive outcome.

Unfortunately, it only takes the bad behaviour of a few people to make it seem like the stock market is a haven for con artists. In the following paragraphs, several classic frauds are briefly described.

Diverting Investors' Funds Vincent Lacroix, the founder of Norbourg Asset Management Inc., was found guilty in 2008 of diverting

$115 million from Norbourg into accounts that he and his wife controlled. Some Investors lost their entire life savings. Lacroix was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $255 000, but he is appealing the sentence. The case was brought against Lacroix by the Autorite des marches financiers (AMF), which is the securities watchdog in Quebec. The AMF itself is the target of a class action suit that claims that it didn't do enough to protect small investors.