Azure Capital Management (ACM) is a prominent investment firm based in New York City, renowned for its strong performance. ACM employs numerous CFA charterholders, including Paul Jenkins, Jennifer Rodriguez, Samuel King, and Alice Smith.

Paul Jenkins, CFA, is the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) known for his rigid adherence to CFA Institute's ethical standards. Samuel King, CFA, a senior analyst, also works closely with Paul and has a reputation for abiding by the CFA Institutes guidelines.

On an ordinary day at the office, Paul received an analysis report from Jennifer Rodriguez, CFA, the leading tech sector analyst. Jennifer had compiled extensive information about Novonix, a tech start-up on the verge of unveiling revolutionary battery technology. Her bullish view was derived from publicly available, though not widely recognized, information. Jennifer also found a patent Novonix had recently filed and was approved that Jennifer found by searching the U.S. Patents offices website. The company had not yet issued a press release regarding the patent. Paul and Jennifer met over lunch to discuss the report in advance of publication.

Alice Smith, CFA, another analyst at the firm, overheard Jennifer's lunch conversation with Paul about the potential of Novonix. She reached out to several friends that afternoon advising them to invest in Novonix without providing any details about her information source.

A week later Paul initially released the firms recommendation on Twitter and the following day sent the full report to all clients.

Samuel King noticed suspicious trading activity in the shares of a company named BlueStream Technologies. The trading volume had unusually surged without any corresponding news or data. Suspecting market manipulation, he promptly informed Paul. Instead of reporting this to the regulatory bodies, Paul decided to investigate further within the company.

Samuel King also received a information from a fiend at HighTech who complained about working long hours due to an impending acquisition of HighTech which had not yet been announced publicly.

Questions:

1. Did either Jennifer Rodriguez or Alice Smith violate the CFA Institute Standard II (A) Material Nonpublic Information?

A. Both Jennifer and Alice violated the standard.

B. Neither Jennifer nor Alice violated the standard.

C. Only Alice violated the standard.

2. Did Samuel King adhere to CFA Institute Standard II (B) Market Manipulation, after discovering the suspicious trading activity in BlueStream?

A. Yes

B. No, because he failed to act on the suspicious trading activity.

C. No, because he did not personally report the suspicious activity to the regulators.

3. Did Paul violate Standard II in his dissemination of the recommendation?

A. Yes, since he posted on Twitter prior to disseminating the report.

B. Yes, since he should have made the full report available publicly.

C. No

4. Would Samuel King violate CFA Institute Standard II (A) Material Nonpublic Information if he purchased options on HighTech or a mutual fund with an investment in HighTech?

A. Yes, for both options and mutual funds.

B. Yes, for options only

C. Yes, for mutual funds only.