Make room on the Goldman conspiracy bandwagon. As you may or may not be aware, oil pipeline giant Semgroup Holdings took $2.4 billion in losses last summer following the oil price spike. Semgroup had been short crude and paid for it dearly. The firm went under, filing for bankruptcy protection in July. At least one voice is blaming Goldman:
But now some of the people involved in cleaning up the financial mess are suggesting that Semgroup's collapse was more than just bad judgment and worse timing. There is evidence of a malevolent hand at work: oil price manipulation by traders orchestrating a short squeeze to push up the price of West Texas Intermediate crude to the point that it would generate fatal losses in Semgroup's accounts."What transpired at Semgroup was no less than a $500 billion fraud on the people of the world," says John Catsimatidis, the billionaire grocer turned oil refiner who is attempting to reorganize Semgroup in bankruptcy court. The $500 billion is how much the world would have overpaid for crude had a successful scam pushed up oil prices by $50 a barrel for 100 days.
We love a good conspiracy theory and this one has all the ingredients:
Target of the theory is a powerful and somewhat mysterious entity? (Check)
Claim is difficult to (dis)prove? (Check)
Well known names attach to various tentacles of the theory? (Check)
The Daniel Pipes Criteria (the perpetrator always gains power, fame, money, and sex) is satisfied? (Check)
Excellent!
Did Goldman Goose Oil? [Forbes]
Posted by merkin capital partners , Mar 26, 2009 10:24AM
Do they also pronounce it "Golden Sach", like Maxine?
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 10:32AM
Utter bullshit. I'll put it to you this way..... I'll believe that article the day major league baseball players start using performance enhancing drugs. Ha! That'll never happen! 'Nuff said.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 10:37AM
Oh sure.....J. Aron operatives drove to Tulsa and focused a powerful "stupid ray" gun at the ugly SemGroup building which forced bad art buying executives to turn into poorly dressed trading zombies and put on stupid position after stupid position without benefit of a "stop-loss" which is like Kryptonite to trading super-zombies who were at the same time awarding themselves large bonuses apparently everytime they took a piss that hurt.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 10:39AM
If something evil happened, chances are GS is behind it. Have you looked at their new tower in BPC? It sucks the light out of the sky. It's like a vertical Death Star. A Death Spire. I can't wait til Barney Flank and the other rebels blow it up.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 10:40AM
2 - dumb analogy
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 10:42AM
Who's your CEO!?! I mean... who's your daddy!?! I mean... who's your Gristede!?!
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 10:50AM
I love how they laid the groundwork for a major conspiracy, but can someone answer the question of why they didn't have stops in their short positions? What were their risk parameters on the trade?
Love the juicy theory, but this sounds like a bunch of losing amatuer traders who are using 20/20 hindsight to construct an excuse as to why they had their ass handed to them.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 10:54AM
@3, sounds like Sempra was actually on the right side of a basis trade, long cash with $430 million of unrealized profits and short futures (and calls) that were $350 million against them.
Problem was they couldn't monetize the winner while not being able to fund the loser.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 10:54AM
SEM knew all along they were getting hammered, why do you think they paid over 120% APR for loans. hiding losses from shareholders, and showing your book to clearing houses for loans is criminal and they should pay!
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 11:02AM
I wonder what Mel Gibson thinks about GS
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 11:03AM
"Tulsa" backwards is "a slut".
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 11:14AM
Goldman is God. Wait. I meant. Goldman is Dog.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 11:35AM
f semgroup, f gs, put em all up against a wall
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 11:56AM
Cat man Do.
Posted by Anal_yst , Mar 26, 2009 12:15PM
@4
Like this?
http://1-2knockout.typepad.com/12_knockout/2009/03/fidi-from-hudson-325.html
does look a bit menacing, now that I look @ the picture again...
Posted by Chuck Krug , Mar 26, 2009 1:09PM
Why did oil get squeezed?
Because it was squeezable.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 1:20PM
Maxine has her buds. They are ubiquitous.
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 1:21PM
The Chi Com flag is flying proudly out in front of 85 Broad today -- and at the same level as the Stars and Stripes.
Boy do I hate those fuckballs
Posted by guest , Mar 26, 2009 7:56PM
It's the JOOOOOOS!!!!!!