In case you missed it, the NYSE’s summer interns rang the opening bell today. Adorable, etc, etc, etc, and a good excuse for us to talk fresh meat. What’s the deal with everyone’s child laborers this year? If you’re working at a government-owned entity, were they offered the gig at a significantly reduced rate? Are they getting actual work to do what with most of the actual employees having been fired? Would you say they’re exuding less cockiness on account of “the economy” or more, since they know you no longer have a BSD with which to slap them into submission? Verbal abuse/looks/freebies– what’s changed? Is management more or less likely to be okay with MD/intern “relationships”? Let’s get into this.
Archive for June 2009
He is no Bernie or Danny Pang but Philip Baker is trying to do the midwest proud and raise the region’s profile in the national fraud standings. Baker, former managing director of Chicago-based Lake Shore Asset Management Ltd., who is conveniently nowhere to be found, is accused of using false information to solicit over $300 million from investors to invest in commodity futures. Some of the promises Baker made with his fingers crossed behind his back were:
- that the commodity pools generated positive returns since 1993 — including returns of more than 50 percent in one year — when it actually experienced millions of dollars in trading losses;
– that no management fee would be charged and participants would pay only a “profit incentive fee” if the pools generated profits, when in fact Baker charged more than $30 million in fees and converted millions in investor funds to his own use though the pools were not profitable; and
– that he co-founded Lake Shore in 1993, and it was regulated by U.S. authorities, when in fact he was not officially associated until January 2007. There are no allegations of wrongdoing involving Lake Shore Inc.
Chicago hedge fund director sought for $300 million fraud [Chicago Sun Times]
The following post is by “Gatzzb,” a friend of Dealbreaker.
Over the last decade few investors have been more quoted – and emulated – than Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha. And for good reason. Mr. Buffett remains one of the most talented investment managers, capital allocators and business managers of our generation with a track record few have come close to matching. Just read any of his letters from the last 30 years and you’ll quickly understand why (sex jokes help). But with his long time passive stake in Moody’s Corp (MCO), I believe Mr. Buffett has practiced what he has often preached against: putting profits before ethics.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has “invited” Ben Bernanke to come have a chat June 25. First order of business: whether or not B-nanke lubed up the Bank of America/Merrill deal by threatening harm to Lewis’s employment status/kidneys unless KL did exactly as he was told (keep the Merrill losses hush hush ’til the right time, show us a smile). Presumably the Fed chair has RSVP’d that he’ll be there with bells on, which is great.
And by great I mean: yet another reminder of how badly this thing was blown. Bald, Beard and Boone’s all should have received invitations to discuss the situation individually and then, SURPRISE– you’re all doing this at the same time. Side by side, in the most awkward manner possible. Two hours in Lewis would’ve utilized the wastebasket next to the table to puke (on account of nerves associated with having Paulson sitting close enough that he could easily break all of KL’s fingers with minimal effort, and a breakfast of booze). Three hours in Ang Moz would’ve busted through the backdoor under the misguided impression that he’d been asked to appear as a character witness. Four hours in– anyone’s guess. Instead, Bernanke will show up and remain fairly calm while the definition of the word threat is debated for half a day.
Goldman Regrets ‘Market Euphoria’ That Led to Crisis (Dealbook)
…claims Lloyd Blankfein in a letter to Barney Frank, Spencer Bachus and the rest of the House Financial Services Committee that begins, “as you know, Goldman Sachs is scheduled to repay [Wednesday] the government’s $10 billion preferred investment in our firm through the TARP’s Capital Purchase Program,” rambles on about the lessons GS has apparently learned and closes thusly: “suck it, bitches, $100 million bonuses comin’ at ya in 3…2…1…”
White House Details Financial Revamp Plan (WSJ)
Eighty-five pages of bathroom reading right here.
Morgan Stanley Offers Investors In Hedge Funds New Option (WSJ)
“The New York firm plans to announce as soon as Wednesday that hedge-fund clients will be allowed to hold part of their assets in Morgan Stanley Trust National Association, a trust company owned by Morgan Stanley. Previously, such assets were held in the firm’s brokerage units.”
Three Steps To Financial Reform, By George Soros (FT)
Step number one: Alan Greenspan must admit he fucked this bitch up bad. Real bad.
One Of You Should Shell Out The Cash For This (AWL)
John Delorean’s Augusta National Golf Club green members jacket and golf bag tag to be auctioned at Christie’s June 23.
$$$ Republican demands BofA-Countrywide loan emails [Reuters]
$$$ Ex-Touradji pair launches commodity equities fund [SS]
$$$ Accused Sports Webio investor missing [Chicago BNC]
$$$ Marissa Brown nee Noel selling jewelry [Daily Intel]
$$$ Deep thoughts from Jeff Gundlach [ZH]
$$$ Trouble at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not [WSJ]
$$$ iPhone 3G S Unveils New Application To Make Calls [CNET]
$$$ Wall Street is hiring [The Deal]
$$$ Obama swats a big ass fly. [clusterstock]
Apparently there is a limit to the government’s willingness to serve up bailouts. While GM and Chrysler were worthy of a helping hand, the state of California is being left to its own devices. As the California State Controller warned the state could be out of cash in a few weeks, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs took the opportunity to draw the administration’s line in the sand.
“We’ll continue to monitor the challenges that they have, but this budgetary problem unfortunately is one that they’re going to have to solve,” Gibbs said.
Evidently California does not qualify as a systemically critical/too-big-to-fail entity.
White House dashes hopes of California budget help [Reuters]
Without admitting or denying charges. Saddest of all: CNBC reports that Ponzi Boy has been “barred from association with any broker, dealer or advisor,” which will make some people very unhappy.
UK-based Hereinthecity has compiled a list of the supposed top 30 firms (based on job security, satisfaction, financial performance, financial strength, compensation and reliance on state aid). I say supposed because the results seem to come from bizarro land. Like: Bank of America jumping from a ranking of 106 last year to slot 16 in ’09. Perhaps something got lost in translation?
30(15). Schroders
29(11). Societe Generale
28(35). Lazard
27(49). Citadel Investments
26(82). Jefferies & Co
25(63). Barclays Wealth
24(12). State Street
23(102). Bank of New York Mellon
22(9). BNP Paribas
21(96). Aberdeen Asset Management
20(72). Northern Trust
19(60). Man Group
18(56). ICAP
17(4). Renaissance Technologies
16(106 / 112). Bank of America / Merrill Lynch
You guys routinely disappoint me. You know that. And yet, because I can’t quit my job (yet), I can’t quit you. The latest is not so much something you’ve done but something you haven’t done. Which is: exceeded or come close to getting involved in a scenario like this. Long story short: husband is out of town for a while, wife gets a job doing soft-core porn on a web cam near you, wife gets recognized at a party by a guy familiar with her work, wife and porn consumer start having an affair, husband finds out (about this guy and a bunch of others) and confronts wife-banger via email, husband proceeds to send email detailing the affair to wife-banger’s entire office (law firm White and Case), including text messages he obtained from wife’s cell like:
Wife: I would love to talk to u and kiss for hours :)
Wife-banger: Sweet. Does this involve a rolling stones t shirt?
Wife: More bareback
And hilarious little asides like:
In case you lost track, [my wife] is playing 3 guys at this point… she apparently needs a baseball team all at the same time to be happy.
In a convincing victory for justice, the former CEO of a Gen Re subsidiary was sentenced to the equivalent of a mild warning from a substitute teacher for his part in defrauding AIG investors of $597 million. John Houldsworth pleaded guilty in 2005 to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and then testified on the government’s behalf to help convict 5 other executives involved in the fraud. In light of his “truly extraordinary” cooperation and heartfelt apology, Houldsworth’s sentence was a crushing 2 years probation, $5,000 fine and 400 hours of community service.
Gen Re’s Houldsworth Avoids Prison in AIG Fraud Case [Bloomberg]
