NorthWest Biotherapeutics Inc (NWBO)

[exwannabe]

If I was a person in receipt of non-public information and then opened a position in a stock right before a buy out. I'd be very nervous.

Why? In general there is no law at all against it.

. If you were an insider, you would be in trouble.
. If you were somebody with a fiduciary duty to the company, you would be in trouble.
. If you were a friend or close family member of the above, you would be in trouble.
. If some insider made a deal with you to trade for them, you would be in trouble.

Other than about that, it is legal to trade on material non-public information.

.If I was some grad student in LL's lab that happens to see the paper, I would trade.
.If I was some random person who saw a copy of the paper left on a copier in the Journals office, I would trade on it.
.If I was same worker at Advent who heard they were being asked to rush because they had solid results, I would trade on it.
.If I saw LP in Merck's CEO's office. I might trade on it (if I thought it had meaning).

Call me unethical or not, but it is 100$ legal in the US.

EDIT: The Advent example might be unclear.