...Call your office.
A reader wrote this morning in response to my Martha Stewart article on Mises.org:
“[I]t is one matter to profess innocence when questioned by the media, it is quite another animal when someone intentionally sets out to deceive the public by voluntarily proclaiming their [sic] innocence in order to prop up their [sic] company’s stock.”
So you own a publicly-traded company and the Justice Department wrongly accuses you of federal crime #45294. To its great surprise, you publicly oppose the DOJ, it backs down, admits that you were right—but to save face it accuses you of improperly manipulating your own stock’s price when you truthfully proclaimed your innocence in the face of the bogus charge. A trial ensues in the hope that you will break. As this fiasco plays itself out, your stock price falls to two-thirds of its value when the original false accusation was made. Justice Department careers are in the balance. So is the likelihood that you will be wearing prison orange.
My prediction: the most serious charges will be dropped before this show trial is over. Perhaps a couple will stick to allow the government an out. Before the Internet, this case would have been much easier for the prosecution to wrap up.
