• 09 Jan 2009 at 10:05 AM

My Pen Name Is Looking Better Every Day

By Equity Private

South Korea said on Thursday it had arrested an elusive blogger accused of undermining the country’s financial markets with his doom-mongering, ending a case that has illustrated government unease with the growing influence of online ­gossip in the world’s most-wired economy.

See, because “elusive bloggers” are what’s wrong with modern economies today and if only we could get a handle on them we might not have had this problem. (That and mouthy congresscritters, short sellers, David Einhorn, Jim Chanos, John Paulson… you get the idea).

“Minerva”, who was arrested on Wednesday, has become a celebrated online guru in South Korea during the crisis. He gained instant kudos for what were seen as uncannily accurate utterances on the fall of Lehman Brothers and the crash of the Korean won, which plunged 26 per cent against the dollar last year.
Although some had speculated he might be a civil servant or even a market insider, authorities said Minerva was an unemployed university graduate without any substantial expertise in economics.

Oh. Apparently we forgot to add “unemployed university graduates without any substantial expertise in economics.”
In all seriousness, some clever talent spotter should give this guy UK citizenship and seed Minerva Capital, the dedicated Asian short fund.
Financial blogger arrested in South Korea [The Financial Times via the always excellent Alea]

Comments (15)

  1. 1
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 10:10 AM

    “The court will decide on Friday what formal charges he could face. If found guilty of contravening Korea’s communications law, which bans the spreading of false information online, he could face seven years in jail.”
    So they aloow have CNBC.com in SK?

  2. 2
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 10:14 AM

    Never sign your posts. IP addresses are meaningless.

  3. 3
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 10:17 AM

    Douches like his highness A$ne$$ are easy to spot.

  4. 4
    Posted by MarshallStack | January 9, 2009 at 10:17 AM

    @2 – Thanks – that is good advice.
    Oh…shit……wait – a sec….dammit

  5. 5
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 10:45 AM

    Considering that he’s being arrested for saying mean (but true) things, I don’t think minor details like the accuracy of an IP address would make much of a difference.

  6. 6
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 11:13 AM

    What is an IP address?
    -Anon

  7. 7
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 11:39 AM

    What are the unemployed university graduate bonus numbers?

  8. 8
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 11:45 AM

    Minerva must merge with Jimmy Cayne in order to survive.

  9. 9
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 12:53 PM

    Maybe they will arrest Barry Ritholtz for professing to be a genius

  10. 10
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 1:16 PM

    ha! Minerva is an italian chick’s name. pretty great disguise for a korean dude. can’t believe it didn’t work.

  11. 11
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 1:33 PM

    Russian proverb: how to discern between male and female asians– makeup

  12. 12
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 2:32 PM

    The reason this guy was so astute: HE ATE DOG. Don’t other people grasp the dogmatic reality? You know minerva spelled backwords is: minipoodle

  13. 13
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 4:29 PM

    Thank God for the 1st Amendment! We love you Bess

  14. 14
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 4:30 PM

    Thanks God for the 1st Amendment – we love you Bess

  15. 15
    Posted by guest | January 9, 2009 at 7:54 PM

    So, are AP ,Associated Press better known in Asia as Asshole Press, writers allowed to do so in Korea?
    Asshole Press writers are worse than “Minerva” but they seem escape the dyslexic SK authorities.

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