Wednesday, April 03, 2024

Here's a WFH downside I hadn't thought of

Everyone has terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days at work, even when they're working from home.

You lose power. Your Internet connection goes dead. Your dog howls. Your kids are home for a snow day, they're antsy, and it's way too blizzardy to kick them out pf the house. You're on Zoom, thinking you're making a private snide side comment to a friend, when you realize that everyone in the Zoom meeting saw what you wrote. Oops. 

Then there's the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day that Emily Kraus, wife of Tyler Loudon of Houston, Texas, had. Make that Emily Kraus, the soon-to-be-ex-wife of Tyler Loudon of Houston, Texas.

Kraus was working for BP, in M&A, and was discussing BP's upcoming acquistion of TravelCenters of America. Loudon apparently overheard the conversation. And acted on it.
[He] bought 46,450 shares of the latter’s stocks ahead of the announcement on Feb. 16, 2023, the SEC said in a news release. Loudon’s wife wasn’t aware that her husband bought the stocks.

Loudon, 42, sold his shares following the announcement, which led to a nearly 71% rise in TravelCenters’ stock, making him a profit of $1.76 million. (Source: NBC News)
When Emily Kraus found out what her terrible, horrible, no good, very bad husband had done, she packed her bags, walked out of the house, and filed for divorce. She also immediately told her boss at BP. And was immediately fired for her troubles.

Losing your job is, of course, terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad. But what happened to her terrible, horrible, no good, very bad soon-to-be-ex-husband was probably worse. For him, anyway.
Loudon pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to forfeit the $1.76 million to authorities, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

He will be sentenced on May 17 and faces up to five years in federal prison, as well as a $250,000 maximum fine.
Thankfully, as I saw on LinkedIn, Emily Kraus has landed on her feet. Fired in June 2023, by July she had a new job.

I read that there have been other insider trading incidents enabled by couples working from home - and half of the couple using overheard scoop to try to make a fast buck. 

A downside of WFH I hadn't thought of.

But there is an upside. Emily Kraus has rid herself of this shitheel of a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad husband. I suspect she won't be visiting her ex in jail...

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