--- description: A new study shows that insider trading during mergers is far more common than once thought. title: More Than a Quarter of Mergers Involve Insider Trading image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1319523a3d63722a/6986982f169ab04012279f68/merger-nyse.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Companies](/tag/companies/) ## Companies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A Quarter of Mergers Involve Insider Trading by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 18, 2014 5:49 PM CUT  General view of atmosphere at the New York Stock Exchange on June 16, 2014 in New York City. General view of atmosphere at the New York Stock Exchange on June 16, 2014 in New York City.Noam Galai—WireImage/Getty Images by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 18, 2014 5:49 PM CUT A study by New York University and McGill University found that as much as 25% of corporate mergers involve some insider trading. And there’s no chance that the illegal trades are just happy accidents either. The authors of the study say “the probability of the unusual volume in the sample arising out of chance” is approximately “three in a trillion.” The study reviewed merger and acquisition trades from 1996 to 2012\. It found that despite one quarter of them involving illegal trades, only 5% of the 1,859 ended in litigation. The data come even as U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has been trying to crack down on insider trading in the hedge fund industry. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2895119/mergers-insider-trading/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2895119/mergers-insider-trading/"},"headline":"A Quarter of Mergers Involve Insider Trading","datePublished":"2014-06-18T17:49:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:29:22.281Z","description":"Greed is good, and apparently prevalent.","url":"https://time.com/2895119/mergers-insider-trading/","keywords":["Companies","stock market"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1319523a3d63722a/6986982f169ab04012279f68/merger-nyse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1319523a3d63722a/6986982f169ab04012279f68/merger-nyse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Angie Harmon Rings The NYSE Closing Bell","caption":"Angie Harmon Rings The NYSE Closing Bell","creditText":"Noam Galai—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2895119/mergers-insider-trading/","name":"A Quarter of Mergers Involve Insider Trading"}}]}] ```