On Thursday of last week, the SEC filed a insider trading lawsuit against a ring of seven individuals, including Matthew Devlin. According to the SEC, for over four years Devlin secretly obtained, traded on, and shared with friends inside information from his unknowing wife, who had access to the information because she handled PR for companies entering into mergers and acquisitions.

The familial betrayal alleged by the SEC in the Devlin case is shocking, but hardly novel, unfortunately. Indeed, there has been a long series of such cases through the years. Here are my picks for the SEC's Top 5 Familial Betrayal Cases, sorted by my all-new, color-coded "Familial Betrayal Advisory System."

#5. SEC v. Melton (April 2007) — Betrayal Level: Low ("Someday We'll Laugh About It")

The SEC sued Gary Melton, the husband of an Amgen vice president, for insider trading in the stock of Abgenix, Inc. The SEC alleged that in early November 2005, Melton and his wife discussed the publicly announced favorable results of a clinical trial for an antibody jointly developed by Amgen and Abgenix. At the time, Melton commented to his wife that he might purchase some Abgenix stock, to which his wife said nothing. A month later Melton's wife learned through her employment at Amgen that Amgen was about to announce that it was acquiring Abgenix, and she specifically instructed Melton not to purchase Abgenix stock.

Despite his wife's admonition, Melton promptly purchased 2,050 shares of Abgenix stock prior to the acquisition, and later liquidated his Abgenix stock for a profit of $15,252.

4. SEC v. Rocklage (January 2005) — Betrayal Level: Guarded ("Counseling Required")

The SEC sued Patricia Rocklage (the wife of the CEO of Cubist Pharmaceuticals), her brother, and others for insider trading in Cubist securities. According to the SEC, on December 31, 2001, Rocklage's husband informed her of the negative results of a clinical trial involving one of Cubist's most important products, Cidecin. However, unbeknownst to her husband, Ms. Rocklage had a "pre-existing understanding with her brother whereby she would give him a 'wink and a nod'" if she ever became aware of any bad news about Cubist that might affect its stock price. Ms. Rocklage told her husband that she intended to signal her brother to sell his Cubist stock, and her husband urged her not to do so. The SEC alleged that "notwithstanding her husband's entreaties, by no later than the morning of January 2, 2002, Ms. Rocklage provided 'a wink and a nod'" to her brother, who promptly sold all of his 5,583 shares, avoiding a loss of nearly $100,000 when Cubist stock plummeted.

3. SEC v. Edelman (January 2006) — Betrayal Level: Elevated ("Clothes Thrown Out Window")

The SEC sued Lee Edelman for insider trading in the securities of Metron Technologies shortly before the August 2004 announcement that it was being acquired by Applied Materials. According to the SEC, Edelman learned about the acquisition negotiations while living with his girlfriend, an associate at a prominent New York law firm retained by Applied Materials. Edelman saw his attorney girlfriend working in their apartment, reviewing deal documents and discussing the transaction on the phone with colleagues, and used this information to secretly begin acquiring Metron shares.

The SEC alleged that several days later, Edelman's girlfriend directly told him that she was working on an acquisition of Metron, but cautioned him that he could not use the information for any purpose. Edelman agreed not to misuse the information. Unbeknownst to his girlfriend and despite their agreement, Edelman continued acquiring Metron shares, ultimately making profits of $23,000. As a final kicker, it was later reported that a few weeks after he betrayed his girlfriend, Edelman broke up with her, to boot.

2. SEC v. Stummer (April 2008) — Betrayal Level: High ("Restraining Order")

The SEC brought an insider trading case against Michael Stummer for insider trading in the common stock of Ryan's Restaurant Group. According to the SEC, on July 21, 2006, Stummer and his family arrived at the New York home of his brother-in-law for an annual weekend gathering. At this time, his brother-in-law served as director of a private equity firm advising a company on the acquisition of Ryan's Restaurant Group. During the weekend visit, Stummer snuck into the brother-in-law's bedroom office and secretly accessed his bedroom office computer. He then correctly guessed his brother-in-law's password, gained access to the private equity firm's computer network, and read several confidential and nonpublic emails relating to the Ryan transaction. The SEC alleges that Stummer used the information he obtained to buy 5,500 shares of Ryan's over the next several days, ultimately realizing a profit of $22,351.17 after the acquisition was announced.

Stummer was subsequently featured in an article in Portfolio, which dubbed him the "Brother-in-Law from Hell" and asked:

What's the worst thing your brother in law could possibly do at a big family gathering? Get drunk and hit on your spouse? Insult your mother? Break a family heirloom?

How about hack into your home computer, discover confidential information about a private equity deal you're running, and trade on it illegally?

1. SEC v. Devlin (December 2008) — Betrayal Level: Severe ("Hell Hath No Fury")

As discussed above, the SEC sued Matthew Devlin last week for trading on and tipping his clients and friends with confidential, nonpublic information about 13 impending corporate transactions that allegedly led to $4.8 million in illegal profits. According to the SEC, Devlin obtained the information from his wife, a partner in the New York City office of an international public relations firm (Brunswick Group) that was working on the deals. The betrayal allegedly began just four months after the two got married in 2003, and went on for more than four years. Devlin's wife, who just had a baby three weeks ago, reportedly had no idea that her husband was doing this and is "devastated beyond words."

The SEC alleged that because the information from his wife was so valuable, Devlin and his friends, including co-defendant Jamil Bouchareb, dubbed Ms. Devlin the "Golden Goose." At one point, Devlin reportedly told Bouchareb, whose girlfriend Maria Checa was once a Playboy Playmate (and who is also named in the complaint as a relief defendant), "[your girlfriend] may be amazing at some things, but none of them are like the golden goose."