At Least We're Not Brazil

Posted by Keith Hahn, Jul 11, 2007, 12:00pm

Daniela_Cicarellicropped.jpg If you think insider trading in the U.S. is bad, where 41% of deals show signs of "suspicious" pre-announcement trading, take a look at some other countries. The Dutch are just as dodgy, Deal Journal reports. Dutch authorities are looking into the 11% spike in Numico shares before the announcement of a $17 billion bid for the company and the NYSE is investigating trading of ABN Amro share before the announcement of Barclay's bid.

One of the worst industrialized nations in terms of insider trading is Brazil. A Bloomberg expose on the Brazilian market reports that nearly every one of the 145 M&A deals in Brazil this year leaked early and showed signs of rampant insider trading. We're not talking subtle share price bumps but massive spikes like the 550% surge in the price of Tele Norte Leste Participacoes SA before an April 10 buyout announcement. This hasn't exactly created a crises of confidence, as the Bovespa benchmark index in Brazil has climbed 189% (in dollar terms) in the past 2 years, helped along by the slowest inflation in a decade. At least the incredibly corrupt old boys in the system are finally making real relative gains.

If you thought the SEC was toothless, it's a virtual piranha compared to the gummy geriatric nibbles of enforcement provided by the Comissao de Valores Mobiliarios (the Brazilian SEC), run by Macelo Trindade. In theory insider trading is a crime in Brazil, carrying a penalty of one to five years in prison (and we're taking one to five in Brazilian prison years), but no one has ever been sent to jail for it. Prison sentences for illegal trading have been issued in the country, but get overturned on appeal (and upheld by the Brazilian Supreme Court), like the famous Naji Nahas case in 1994.

The only people in finance we know in Brazil, Merrill Lynch banker Renato Malzoni and his girlfriend Daniela Cicarelli (pictured above), could not be reached for comment. (By popular demand, we've reduced her picture to a headshot. Click on the picture for a larger image of Cicarelli in beachwear.)

Insider Trading Goes Global [Deal Journal]
Insider Trading Infects Brazil Stocks as Almost All Deals Leak [Bloomberg]

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Posted in: SEC

Comments

Posted by anon, Jul 11, 2007 12:17PM

I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't flash this sort of stuff on my screen and still create the illusion that I'm working.

Posted by AJ, Jul 11, 2007 12:23PM

Yeah, thanks Keith. I just had an MD go "does that mean you have capacity?"

Posted by jt, Jul 11, 2007 12:31PM

good point by the above posters, but more importantly why do you let mike's hard run those heinously irrelevent (not to mention annoying) ads on your site??

Posted by anon, Jul 11, 2007 12:38PM

Great, now you have an even hotter chick there. I guess Dealbreaker figures that if we get fired we'll spend even more time reading this site.

Agreed on the Mike's hard ads. Can't you get ads for watches and jets like Trader Monthly does?

Posted by jt, Jul 11, 2007 12:58PM

for real I'm gonna get sh!tcanned for looking at this stuff, although anon that's pretty accurate but I don't think with unlimited free time and no big brother IT watchdogs/firewalls dealbreaker would be anyone's website muse of choice...

Posted by , Jul 11, 2007 1:02PM

the anti-cyber bullying ads from a few days ago are my favorite

i think im going to stop teasing 6th graders about girls they like now

Posted by John Carney, Jul 11, 2007 1:10PM

We've removed the image from the main page. Don't want anyone getting in trouble.

But it's still there if you want to see what caused all the controversy. No nudity. Just a girl in a bikini. It's only racy because she's unbelievably hot.

Posted by jt, Jul 11, 2007 1:12PM

gracias jc

Posted by anon anon anon, Jul 11, 2007 1:19PM

That's the trouble with going to Brazil to work--all the girls look like her. You see many geeks marrying up.

Posted by , Jul 11, 2007 1:47PM

All the girls look heavily airbrushed?

Posted by gab, Jul 11, 2007 1:47PM

I have only one comment - aye caramba. Is that Portuguese? No matter...

Posted by Zbignew, Jul 11, 2007 2:09PM

"At Least We're Not Brazil"

Speak for yourself. Brazil is looking more and more like a better place to do business. No enforcement, and a population of hot chicks. Note to self: Google "Brazillian emigration requirements"

Posted by Tino, Jul 11, 2007 2:11PM

That model looks strangely like Michael Jackson (or is it the other way around?)

Posted by j, Jul 11, 2007 4:24PM

i don't think i'd want to live in brazil and deal with the daily risk of being kidnapped or having my ear/limbs cut off....

Posted by Tim Sykes, Jul 11, 2007 4:55PM

There's no shortage of fine tail in the city, and it's even easier to bag them when you tell them you turned a paltry $13,000 of Barmitzvah money into 2 mil. I love myself.

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