I was in a crappy mood when I original posted and didn't mean it to come off quite the way I wrote it. At that point, my wife was telling me again that she is right "ten times out of eight".
We may be hung up a bit on what is ethical versus being legal.
In any event, brokeflyer said it better than I did. The fact he bought shares and suggested that BH make a run at the company is where the problem lies. It makes no difference whether he told them he bought the shares or not, the appearance of making a buck at this level by suggesting a buy or sell is enough to cause problems. He may not be a insider according to the SEC rules..but he is in a position to influence.
Put another way, if you were his pilot, his accountant, barber, etc and bought the shares and told him to make a run at the company, no problem. You would not be deemed to be in a position to influence BH. Sokol is and that is the rub.
The fact is that this matter will just go away as they usually do. Personally I think Warren gave him the boot for being a dummy. I doubt that Buffett even paid any attention to the comment at that initial meeting, but would have if Sokol reminded him once things heated up that he owned shares.
