Feds Want Answers When It Comes To Intel’s CEO Stock Dump Prior To Spectre & Meltdown Disclosure

If you’re Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, the optics of this just don’t look good. Apparently he sold stock right before the company disclosed the Meltdown and Spectre security flaws. The sale earned Krzanich $20 million US. Now some Senators want some answers:

News reports that more than $20 million in share sales by Krzanich were scheduled in October of last year before the company made public that its processors were vulnerable to hackers are “troubling,” Senators Jack Reed and John Kennedy wrote in Tuesday letters to the Securities Exchange Commission and the Justice Department. Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, and Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, are members of the Senate Banking Committee.

“These reports are troubling not only because of the risk to nearly all phones and computers, but also because these reports raise concerns of potential insider trading,” the senators wrote. “If you uncover such violations through your examinations, we expect you to enforce our laws to the fullest extent possible.”

Now Intel says that the stock sale was pre-arranged. But like I said, the optics suck. And in an election year, that’s not good for the chipmaker and its CEO. I’m pretty sure that this story is going to have legs and you’ll be reading a lot about it in the weeks and months ahead.

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