I am unable to identify my employer without running into problems. I have never spoken to a member of the public about this issue and I have only heard internal discussions.

The secondary market is what most people understand the stock market to be. Individuals are buying shares from other individuals. Regulators cannot prevent you from buying shares from another person. This is where most people ran into problems with this stock. Word of mouth seemed to trump solid due diligence and careful risk assessment.

The primary market is where an individual buys shares directly from a company via a private placement or other offering. There are protections in place to make sure that only those people with the ability to take the risk or have business relationships with management can buy from the company directly.