‘They’re Gonna Get You!’ Joe Scarborough Delivers Stern Warning to Insider Traders — Amid Reports Oil Futures Spiked Just Before Trump’s Iran Post

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough rebuked “stupid” insider traders on Tuesday, warning that those making a “quick buck” on advanced knowledge of President Donald Trump’s decisions are “going to get in trouble down the road” when the Securities and Exchange Commission dig in on the “public” transactions.

Trump unexpectedly announced on social media Monday that the U.S. and Iran had held “VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS” aimed at resolving the conflict between the two, and would not launch military strikes against Iranian energy infrastructure for the next five days.

The post prompted a sharp rally on Wall Street and a steep drop in oil prices; the Dow jumped more than 600 points by the close, while crude fell over 10%.

But data reviewed by CNBC suggested unusual trading activity just minutes before Trump’s post. Around 6:50 a.m. in New York, S&P 500 futures saw a sudden spike in volume despite an otherwise quiet premarket session, while oil futures also moved sharply. The timing has drawn scrutiny, with analysts noting that traders who bought equities and shorted oil at that moment would have profited significantly once the announcement became public.

On Tuesday, Morning Joe co-host Willie Geist relayed CNBC’s reporting, adding Trump’s announcement pushed the price of oil down by $17 and added $1.7 trillion to stocks before Iran’s denials that talks were taking place wiped out “half of those gains.”

Sitting back in his chair, Scarborough issued a warning to anyone inside the Trump administration profiting:

Remember in the film Wall Street, Hal Holbrook’s character going, “Just don’t do it, you’re going to get in trouble”? I’m going to be that old guy right now. There are a lot of stupid people that are thinking, “Oh, you know what, we’re in the wild west, we can trade on inside information, his will never catch up to us. We’ll make a quick buck.” I’m Hal Holbrook: Don’t do it, Bob, because there’s no free lunch.

If they don’t get you now, they’re going to get you sometime, right? There are a lot of stupid people that are trading on inside information right now that are going to get in trouble down the road because everything’s public. They’re going to find out who got inside information, they’re going to find out who made a quick buck. And it’s just not worth it.

“They may feel protected today but the people in charge today will not be tomorrow,” agreed Geist.

Watch above via MS NOW.

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