Rick Ackerman

Back in 1990, a market maker at the Pacific Exchange named Rick Ackerman helped the FBI catch a criminal trader from Merrill Lynch who had poisoned several packages of Smith-Kline (now Glaxo Smith-Kline) drugs and purchased out-of-the-money put options in hopes of cashing in. Today, it's much harder to commit securities fraud with all the tools put in place and active monitoring. But back in the late 1980s, early 1990s, there was no internet. No free charts service. No options listings in the paper. But what seemed like the perfect crime would ultimately be foiled by one man: Rick Ackerman. Read more...