The subject is international financial crime.

Joanne works as an investment analyst at Knocklebee Inc, a firm in New York, United States. One day Joanne is told by Max, who is a whistleblower at Quincy Bank Inc, an investment bank that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, that Quincy Bank Inc has made major losses in its investments in Ukraine government-issued bonds. Joanne knows Max very well because he is her uncle and is aware that Max as executive director of Quincy Bank Inc has access to price sensitive information. Max also tells Joanne that Quincy Bank has filed a false or misleading quarterly Form 10-Q report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to cover up its investment losses. Joanne takes a closer look at Quincy Bank Incs Form 10-Q report and, after questioning some inside sources at Quincy Bank, she is satisfied that the 10-Q report has misled the market.

Comment on the legality or otherwise of the following decisions taken by Joanne and Paul under the law of insider trading in the United States:

1. On her personal account, Joanne sells Ukraine government-issued bonds avoiding millions of dollars of personal losses.
2. Prior to the information becoming public, Joanne tells her fellow employees, including Paul, at Knocklebee Inc that they should buy put options at Quincy Bank Inc because she has discovered that the Bank has made significant investment losses in the Ukraine. [Put options give the holder the right but not the obligation to sell a specified amount of an underlying security at a pre-determined fixed price by a specific time].

Subsequently, Paul who is also an investment analysis at Knocklebee Inc, buys 1,000 put options in Quincy Bank Inc. A week later, the market price of Quincy Bank Inc collapses and Paul exercises his option rights making a profit of $100,000.

3. Prior to the information becoming public, Joanne writes a story in an investment newsletter (which is for the exclusive use of the clients of Knocklebee Inc) that market analysts have discovered that Quincy Bank Inc has a major exposure to Ukraine government bonds and that Quincy Bank Incs last Form 10-Q report may be deficient. She recommends that shares in Quincy Bank Inc should be sold and/or shorted.

In answering these questions, you should refer to specific US cases.