CrimLaw

Martha:

"As strange as it sounds, it is a crime to cover up conduct that is not a crime.
. . . .
After three near-full weeks of trial, it is becoming increasingly clear that the government's stock fraud and obstruction case against Stewart and her broker, Peter Bacanovic, is about the echo, not the shout; the shadow, not the form.

Much of the evidence prosecutors have introduced against the defendants fits an insider trading case. Yet the feds haven't charged Stewart or Bacanovic with insider trading. Instead, government lawyers say the defendants broke the law when they lied about why Stewart sold the last few thousand of her Imclone shares.

Prosecutors say the insider trading component of the story merely created the motive for the defendants to behave the way they did, which is either silly (if you believe the defense attorneys) or criminal (if you believe prosecutors)."

Personally, I think charging someone with lying about something which ain't illegal is downright silly (and maybe even petulant).

Cudos to the author, Andrew Cohen, for the nod to Plato. You don't see that sort of philosophical underpinning to an article very often.