Have you ever noticed how the biggest insider trading scandals often involve people who seemed untouchable? It’s both fascinating and unsettling to discover how financial corruption has managed to penetrate so deeply into Wall Street, despite SEC and FINRA oversight.

Let’s take Ivan Boesky, for example. In the 1980s, he was considered a highly respectable arbitrageur, but in reality, he accumulated over $200 million through illegal transactions based on confidential information. His case was crucial in exposing the entire network of corruption that characterized Wall Street, and it even led to the downfall of Michael Milken. Boesky cooperated with federal investigators and served three years in prison plus a $100 million fine.

But perhaps one of the most sensational insider trading cases was that of Raj Rajaratnam with the Galleon Group. This guy had built a real network of corporate insiders at Intel, IBM, and McKinsey & Company. With his associates, he illegally earned $70 million. What made the case particularly significant was the use of wiretaps, a technique rarely used in financial crime investigations at that time. In 2011, Rajaratnam was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Then there’s the case that captured national attention: Martha Stewart and ImClone Systems in 2001. Stewart sold nearly 4,000 shares just before the FDA rejected the company’s cancer drug. She was not directly convicted of insider trading but for obstruction of justice and false statements. She served five months in prison. What’s interesting is that behind Stewart was Sam Waksal, CEO of ImClone, who had tried to sell his family’s shares by warning others before the negative FDA news became public. Waksal received seven years in prison.

Enron is another dark chapter. Jeffrey Skilling, the company’s CEO, sold about $60 million worth of shares based on insider information about the impending bankruptcy. In 2006, he was convicted of fraud and insider trading, initially sentenced to 24 years, later reduced to 14.

Let’s not forget R. Foster Winans, a Wall Street Journal reporter who, in 1985, leaked upcoming stories from his ‘Heard on the Street’ column to brokers, allowing them to make profitable trades before the information became public. Winans served 18 months in prison.

And then there’s Steven A. Cohen with SAC Capital Advisors. In 2013, his fund was fined $1.8 billion for insider trading. Eight employees were convicted, and Cohen was forced to shut down investor advisory operations. This case revealed how deeply rooted insider trading was in high-frequency institutional investment environments.

These famous insider trading cases demonstrate one thing: no one is truly above the law, no matter how influential they may seem. Yet, we continue to uncover new scandals. It’s a reminder that regulators must stay vigilant and that transparency remains the best defense against financial corruption.