When it comes to this case, the finer details of who is at fault might be complex, but the bare bones of what happened are simple enough to explain in a few words.
Elon Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk sold $108 million worth of Tesla shares one day before Elon Musk tweeted a poll asking the world if he should sell his own 10% stake.
As anyone could have predicted based on the track record of Musk’s tweets, the poll sent stockholders into panic, resulting in a dip in the Tesla stock price.
Insider trading laws are in place to ensure that individuals who have “insider knowledge” of what could happen to the market — such as employees or shareholders — don’t use that to earn profits.