Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street: Sept. 25

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Dumbness in Dallas

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- They say everything is bigger in Texas. We suppose that also includes stupid decisions.

In a complaint filed in Dallas, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday it has charged Reza Saleh, an employee of a Perot Systems (PER Quote) affiliate, with insider trading related to Dell's (DELL Quote) offer to purchase the company earlier this week. The SEC said Saleh pocketed about $8.6 million in "illicit profits" based on his knowledge of "material, non-public information" about Dell's $3.9 billion acquisition of the technology services company.

The SEC, which is now seeking a court order to freeze Saleh's assets, said Saleh made "extremely large" purchases of call options for Perot Systems common stock between Sept. 4 and Sept. 18, and then sold all of the 9,332 call options on Monday after Perot Systems' stock soared on the official merger announcement. Saleh, who works for Parkcentral Capital Management, the Plano, Texas-based investment firm of former presidential candidate and Perot Systems Chairman Emeritus Ross Perot, occasionally attended Perot Systems planning meetings, according to the complaint.

Oh, come on guys! Maybe Saleh just had a hunch that worked out. It happens now and then. Doesn't it?

No. It doesn't. And as experts in the field of dumbness, we can only say that should the allegations against Saleh prove conclusive then he will likely gain entry into the Five Dumbest "Ring of Honor." (The Dallas Cowboys have their ring, we have ours.)

Saleh's $8.6 million score was split between two TD Ameritrade (AMTD Quote) accounts, the SEC said. On the day the merger was announced, the not-so smart Saleh withdrew $5,000 from one of his accounts and tried to retrieve another $55,000, but was rejected after the SEC contacted the brokerage.

"The overwhelming evidence in this case allowed the SEC to move quickly against the trader before he could spend the huge profits from his illegal trading," said Rose Romero, director of the SEC's Fort Worth Regional office, in a statement.

Wow. Even the SEC comes up big in Texas.

Dumb-o-meter score: 95 -- In Saleh's case, "Big D" stands for "Dumb."