“IT DOESN’T LOOK GOOD”: Intel CEO In Jeopardy For Selling Stock After Learning Of “Staggering” Flaw.

The trade, which took place on Nov. 29, has been called “a highly unusual move” that risked attracting regulatory scrutiny, according to lawyers and analysts who spoke to the WSJ. The timing of Krzanich’s sale “is really odd,” said Dan O’Connor, a Ropes & Gray attorney specializing in securities law. “The timing, the size, the unusual nature compared to prior sales—that’s going to get this a lot of scrutiny.”

While the trade took place under an SEC rule that allows officers and directors to prearrange sales of specific numbers of shares at particular times, the experts note that the rule prohibits insiders from setting up such transactions while possessing undisclosed information that might affect the stock price.

Which is precisely what happened in this case.

For what it’s worth, a friend of mine who runs data centers for a living — and whose servers might be greatly impacted by the Intel flaw — told me yesterday he bought a few shares of rival chipmaker AMD last week.