When I first started at DealBreaker, I realized quickly that there were a few things you could always count on. You could count on Goldman to be the best, its hedge funds not included. You could count on commenters to never shut the fuck up about totally insignificant errors in grammar and punctuation that they were only pointing out so as to feel good about themselves on an anonymous message board for two seconds as a result of their obviously unparalleled “gotcha!” skills. You could count on quant models to always beat the market. And you could count on a young man, a dancer and a banker, named Eugene Plotkin, who took in more than $6.7 million in an insider trading scheme that was hatched at a Russian bathhouse and included a Merrill Lynch junior analyst, a 63-year old retired Croatian underwear seamstress, an exotic dancer and two former employees from the Wisconsin branch of a BusinessWeek printing press, to claim that he was completely innocent. Today that faith was broken.
The former Goldman Sachs associate pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and eight counts of insider trading. Plotkin’s crimes carry a maximum penalty of 165 years in prison, though under the terms of a plea agreement, he only faces 5 years and 11 months (and will also have to turn over the $6.7). Sentencing takes place on November 30. Plotkin told U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman, “I understand what I did was wrong and against the law'' and said he was “deeply sorry” for his “intent to perpetrate a fraud upon the investing public.'' He said nothing about robbing us of our ability to ever believe again.
Ex-Goldman Associate Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading [Bloomberg]
Posted by , Aug 28, 2007 2:12PM
would you really want us to pass up a chance to point out the flaws in your writing?
(on the minute chance that you might answer that question with a yes, i'll hold off on pointing out this post's transgressions of good grammar...)
Posted by , Aug 28, 2007 2:19PM
Multiple run-on sentences...
Posted by , Aug 28, 2007 4:07PM
Sorry, what was that? I kind of lost you after the split infinitive.
Posted by ANON , Aug 28, 2007 4:28PM
So about 5 years for Plotkin. Anyone want to go on record about waht Pajcin gets? I say 26 months.
Sentencing buffs may also want to tell me why Randi Collata from Morgan Stanley gets a years and Stan Shpeigleman from Merrill gets 37 months with almost identical fact patterns?
(my question spans two seperate insider trading rings..anyone paying close attention?)
The
Posted by , Aug 29, 2007 4:35AM
"to never shut the fuck up" is a split infinitive. Bad, very. You should say : "to shut the never fuck up", or perhaps, "to fuck the shut never up".
HTH HAND
Posted by anon , Aug 29, 2007 9:14PM
well, you could say that never-shut-the-fuck-up is a single, hyphenated word and the object of the infinitive to. i'd give her that one.
but she is a shitty writer. too bad she has to be defensive about it. why not just trumpet it as a conscious choice of substance over form the way most grammatically challenged bloggers do?
Posted by you're a shitty commenter , Aug 29, 2007 11:09PM
actually, she's a great writer.
Posted by anon , Aug 30, 2007 7:32AM
11:09 - "actually" ? Is that a citation to authority, an illustration of greatness, a description of signature technique, the results of a poll, or what? Did you mean "In actuality"? If you're correct, that in actual life she is a great writer, then it's a shame we have to deal with her virtual presence. Your defense reminds one of Pericles' protestation to Alcibiades, that he (Pericles) also used to be good at give-and-take. To which Alcibiades replied: "Ah Pericles, I would like to have known you then, when you were at your best."
Posted by anon2 , Aug 30, 2007 10:35PM
Re: "So about 5 years for Plotkin. Anyone want to go on record about waht Pajcin gets? I say 26 months."
I hope Gene's 5 will be much better and more pleasant that Pajcin's 26th... just curious - do they Treat "cooperators" "better" in prisons - hope so...
sorry couldn't resist posting- just happen to one dance with Gene - great dancer, great guy (SAD...)
Posted by Jakarta , Dec 05, 2007 9:38PM
Anyone have an update on the Plotkin trial? I bet he would get less than 6 years when the trial first started and have been waiting forever for the results. Now it's a week past November 30th and still no news.