He had no recent open-market sales, but two other insiders bought after selling in May and June at more than $40.

"In the 1980's you could assume insiders were buying for one of two reasons," Mr. Gabele said.

Loans guaranteed or financed by the company to help insiders buy shares, while still rare, are becoming more common.

Corporate insiders have also been buying their own stocks in larger volumes than normal.

Mr. Buck said corporate insiders bought stock in 187 transactions during that time and made only 17 sales.

Just three weeks before the announcement, four insiders bought 9,000 shares of Florida Banks at about $7 each.

In October, at least eight insiders, including the chief financial officer, bought bank shares by the thousands.

Some insiders had bought their apartments at two-thirds or half the market price.

And again, no laws were apparently violated because the insiders bought their shares before Recruit Cosmos went public.

That is the basis for the Bass Group's conviction that insiders could buy the stock at a very low price.