Piggyback followed up with backbite

One of San Diego's most publicized insider-trading cases involved Jing Wang, who was president of Qualcomm's global business operations. He pleaded guilty in July of 2014 to raking in about $250,000 of insider-trading gains involving Qualcomm.

Wang secretly traded in shares of Qualcomm before it announced a dividend increase and share buyback. He also made a bundle trading in shares of Atheros Communications, which Qualcomm intended to buy, but there had been no announcement.

Wang traded through an account in the tax-and-secrecy haven of the British Virgin Islands. The account had been set up by Gary Yin, his broker at Merrill Lynch. Yin set up his own secret account in the same hideaway and made trades similar to Wang's without informing Merrill Lynch. This is called "piggybacking" and is illegal, as is the trading on inside information.

On January 20 in federal court, Wang sued Yin. Wang explains in the suit that he and Yin, jointly and severally, were ordered to pay $1.2 million to Merrill Lynch to cover the big brokerage house's expenses in investigating the violations. Wang says he has paid Merrill Lynch $1.2 million but Yin has not anted up. Therefore, argues Wang, Yin owes him $600,000.