“JPM hiring quants.”

“What are quants?”

“That’s short for quantitative analysts.”

“So that’s Wall Street terminology?”

“Well, yes,” he said slowly.

She needed to get him boasting of his knowledge. “Have you worked on Wall Street?”

“No.”

“But you’re familiar with Wall Street terminology?” She looked up at him, hoping he’d see her as looking up at him.

“Yes.” He nodded. “I’m pretty Wall Street savvy.”

“What are quants? What do they do?”

“They’re graduates with math PhDs who create trading models to assist with proprietary trading for the firm on the stock exchange.”

“That sounds complicated. What does proprietary trading mean?”

“That’s trading on behalf of the firm.” He seemed proud to be able to explain it.

“And you circled that and you wrote—that is your handwriting?” she asked to confirm.

“Yes, that’s mine,” he said.

“And you wrote that note there: ‘JPM + high-volume trading = upside.’”

“Yes.”

“I understand from that note that you deduced that JP Morgan was about to enter into that high-volume trading market and that seemed like a good opportunity to invest—that’s what your note is saying, right?”

“Yes,” he said. He puffed up like a peacock.

“And the JP Morgan job listing website—that’s not an SEC filing, right?”

“No,” he scoffed. “Of course not.”

“So, would you say you’re an experienced investor?”

“Yes.”

Great, she’d gotten him to admit that he was a knowledgeable investor who did his own research and who did not rely solely on SEC filings. She turned and walked back to the defense table and picked up the next exhibit. Her heels clicked loudly on the wooden floor. “Let’s turn to the next folder, Exhibit D—that’s your research on United, right?”

“Yes,” he said.

“And here you kept some articles about their bids for certain routes, right?” She handed the papers to the clerk who marked them in the transcript and then handed them to the witness.

“Yes,” he said.

“These articles are printed out within minutes of this announcement about the routes, isn’t that right?”

“Yes.”

“How is that? Do you have your stocks programmed into your news feed so you get updates automatically?” She gentled her voice so that she sounded mildly curious.

“Yes,” he answered. Yes, he’d admitted it. She had to remain impassive so he couldn’t tell how significant his response was. Now to confirm he received an automatic news update on Popflicks.

“Were you traveling to Istanbul in May?” Audrey switched topics to keep him off balance and distract him from the prior admission.

“No, you already know from my deposition I wasn’t.”

“It looks like you researched these routes on Travelocity and looked at how many seats were taken—is that why you printed out this article on the consumer demand for flights to Istanbul?”

“Yes.”

“You do quite a bit of research when you invest in stocks, yes?”

“Yes.”