When is insider trading not insider trading? Apparently when it's done by a hacker.

Ukranian Oleksandr Dorozhko made $250,000 profit in the stock market after he allegedly hacked into the computer system of IMS Health and stole a peek at the company's earnings statement hours before it was made public, reports vnunet.com.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission caught wind of it and ordered the money frozen. But a federal judge has ruled that the law isn't clear about whether information gained by hacking constitutes insider trading.  Dorozhko might simply be guilty of theft,  said U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald. She ordered the SEC to give him the money.

She wants the SEC to prove that Dorozhko acted on the tip from an insider, which it might not be able to do, reports The International Herald Tribune. The case has gone to an appeals court.