684
Opinion of Thomas, J.
go on and you can use the money to finance any number of other activities, but the connection is far less close than in this case, where the only value of this information for personal profit for respondent was to take it and profit in the securities markets by trading on it.
. . . . . "[Court]: So what you're saying is, is in this case the misappropriation can only be of relevance, or is of substantial relevance, is with reference to the purchase of securities.
"[Counsel]: Exactly. "[Court]: When you take the money out of the accounts you can go to the racetrack, or whatever.
"[Counsel]: That's exactly right, and because of that difference, [there] can be no doubt that this kind of mis-appropriation of property is in connection with the purchase or sale of securities.
"Other kinds of misappropriation of property may or may not, but this is a unique form of fraud, unique to the securities markets, in fact, because the only way in which respondent could have profited through this information is by either trading on it or by tipping somebody else to enable their trades." Tr. of Oral Arg. 16-19 (emphases added).
As the above exchange demonstrates, the relevant distinction is not that the misappropriated information was used for a securities transaction (the money example met that test), but rather that it could only be used for such a transaction. See also id., at 6-7 (Government contention that the misappropriation theory satisfies "the requisite connection between the fraud and the securities trading, because it is only in the trading that the fraud is consummated" (emphasis added)); id., at 8 (same).
The Government's construction of the "in connection with" requirement—and its claim that such requirement precludes coverage of financial embezzlement—also demonstrates how
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