The prosecution of the offense of insider trading has historically been confined largely to the United States. Even the US had not aggressively pursued insider trading until the late 1980s, when the SEC began a high-profile campaign highlighted by cases against Dennis Levine and Ivan Boesky.

Although other countries have over the past decade or so added insider trading laws to their books, enforcement has been infrequent. The UK, for example, has had insider trading laws in place since 1986, but just filed its first three criminal actions in 2008. Other countries like Japan enacted laws against insider trading in 1988, but the concept is still reportedly a bit hazy. According to one commentator, "Even today many Japanese do not understand why this is illegal. Indeed, previously it was regarded as common sense to make a profit from your knowledge."

In the past month or so, however, there seems to have been a significant flurry in the enforcement of insider trading laws around the globe. Consider the following cases and developments that have been announced since August 2008 alone:

August 7, 2008 (Holland): Dutch Financial Watchdog Fines Former Spyker CEO $150,000 for Insider Trading

September 2, 2008 (Colombia): Colombia Regulators to Crack Down on Insider Trading

September 3, 2008 (UK): Criminal Insider Trading Trial of Dentist Begins Today

September 16, 2008 (India): Insider Trading Finding, Fines Upheld by Supreme Court

September 25, 2008 (Bangladesh): SEC Investigation Results in Fine for Insider Trading

September 26, 2008 (Hong Kong): SFC Charges Former Investment Banker with Insider Trading

As world securities markets become increasingly intertwined, we can expect to see more enforcement like this, as well as increased coordination between regulators, on a global basis.