The BBC has covered a story concerning the analysis of an array of illegal trades that came up just before and after specific announcements concerning global commodities such as oil, gold and stock indeces.

Trump makes a statement, Trump backs down (TACO – Trump Always Chickens Out) and then later it’s revealed that hundreds of millions in profits from questionable trades are made in the process.

Could there be a method to Donald’s madness? Are they just gaming the market on an international scale and no one has the chutzpah to call them out?

Are we that pathetic as a society that we can no longer reign in the most gangster-driven culture in the history of the planet?

Unfortunately, illegal trading activity is hard to prove and even harder to assign to a single person or group of investors.

From the article:

Insider trading has been illegal for most Americans since the Securities Act was passed in 1933.

It was extended to cover US government officials in 2012, although to date no-one has been prosecuted under the law.

Paul Oudin, a professor who specialises in financial regulation law at the ESSEC Business School, says the rules are difficult to enforce.

“The financial authorities will not carry out a prosecution if they can’t figure out who the source of information is,” says Oudin.

None of the US financial authorities contacted by the BBC acknowledged any of the allegations of insider trading.