Key fig­ure in no­to­ri­ous bio­phar­ma in­sid­er case los­es an ap­peal — broad­en­ing scope for fu­ture cas­es

Math­ew Mar­toma will be stay­ing in prison.

A US ap­peals court ruled to­day that Mar­toma’s in­sid­er trad­ing con­vic­tion three years ago was not taint­ed by im­prop­er in­struc­tions, deny­ing him a shot at a new tri­al and pos­si­ble free­dom.

In the process the fed­er­al judges, di­vid­ed 2-1 in the rul­ing, widened the lat­i­tude of fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tions for in­sid­er trad­ing. Pick­ing up on a re­cent Supreme Court de­ci­sion, the court es­tab­lished that an in­di­vid­ual can be con­vict­ed of re­ceiv­ing in­sid­er in­for­ma­tion as a “gift,” with­out giv­ing the tip­per a tan­gi­ble ben­e­fit in pay­ment.

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