I understand that was a long time ago, but today it would be termed defrauding the government if you used inside information on the condition of a company (bank in this case) for individual profit. FDIC provides insurance for depositors against unforseen and unlikely occurrences, not an inevitable failure.

It's a sign of the times that a US Senator can publish negative information about a bank, causing a panic and failure of confidence... and get away with it! It would be criminal offense for anyone else to publish negative information since our banking system runs on the public's trust in the system.