‘Blood Oath’ Sealed Stanford Deal, Court Is Told (NYT)
You really can never trust a person, especially in the money game. Sometimes you need a little added security that they’re going to be loyal to you no matter what. So why this happened, okay? “At a meeting in 2003, [Stanford and his chief regulator, Leroy King] became blood brothers, cutting their wrists and mixing their blood in a “brotherhood ceremony” that Mr. Stanford’s chief financial officer said promoted an elaborate scheme to hide a multibillion-dollar fraud from American and other regulators. After the pact, King called Mr. Stanford “Big Brother.” He received Super Bowl tickets, valued at thousands of dollars, for himself and his girlfriend. And he accepted regular bribe payments from a secret Swiss bank account that Mr. Davis said he was told to handle by Mr. Stanford.”
SEC’s Schapiro Calls Derivatives Data ‘Critical’ for Probes (Bloomberg)
Regulators need “information that allows us to construct an audit trail, so that we can find insider trading, manipulation and other concerns that can reverberate through the entire marketplace,” Schapiro said in an interview for Bloomberg TV.
Madoff Victims Fight Picard Over Profits (NYP)
Irving Picard wants to cut checks for whatever money each investor gave to Madoff (minus whatever they with withdrew), which is pissing of the people who’d just prefer he gave them the $50 billion.
Treasury Document Called AIG Investment ‘Highly Speculative’ (Bloomberg)
“A slide with the phrase was included in documents obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request by Judicial Watch. The sentence was omitted from another version of the slide in a presentation describing the November revision to AIG’s rescue in which the insurer got $40 billion from the Treasury. (“The prospects of recovery of capital and a return on the equity investment to the taxpayer are highly speculative,” according to the first of the two Treasury slides.)”
Banks ‘Too Big to Fail’ Have Grown Even Bigger (WaPo)
“It is at the top of the list of things that need to be fixed,” said Sheila C. Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. “It fed the crisis, and it has gotten worse because of the crisis.”
Hedge Critic May Get SEC Risk Post (NYP)
University of Texas law professor Henry Wu, “known for his research uncovering shady dealings in the derivatives market,” is probably going to be named head of the SEC’s Office of Risk Assessment.
Archive for August 2009
$$$ The Most Powerful Banker You’ve Never Heard Of [BW]
$$$ Hassan Nemazee‘s about to come into some money. [Cityfile]
$$$ Alternatives to Sarkozy’s pay caps [The Deal]
$$$ Merrill Lynch Seething With Anger Over Treatment Of Dan Sontag [BI]
$$$ Racketeering 101: Bailed Out Banks Threaten Systemic Collapse If Fed Discloses Information [ZH]
$$$ SHIA LaBEOUF NOT RBS-BOUND. We *love* our tipsters, but a tip for giving ‘em to us? Letters are tricky! Make sure to double-check. (Money Never Sleeps was at RBC last night, not RBS, and will start filming there in November. Employees are being offered roles as extras.)
The home of two of the largest, and emptiest, trading floors in the world, Connecticut, is going after any residents on UBS’s now infamous list who weren’t able to obtain tax favorable citizenship elsewhere and flee to higher ground. If you thought they were going to do this the easy way and use people with immunity from prosecution to connect the dots for them, think again.
“UBS is naming names of tax evaders, and we have reason to believe Connecticut citizens are among them,” Blumenthal said on Thursday. “We will vigorously pursue them for unpaid taxes, including anyone who comes forward under the federal tax amnesty program.”
The old adage is true- old habits die hard.
[via Gawker]
You can do so here, and he’ll possibly answer you tomorrow night when he participates in a roundtable discussion on Bravo concerning the issues of the day with a fashion stylist’s assistant and a Real Housewife of Atlanta. Please note you’ll probably up the odds of a response by shying away from topics such as lending standards and stick with subjects along the lines of fabulous frocks and what the deal is with Kim’s mysterious boyfriend AKA “Big Poppa.” Also, pick for this season’s Top Chef? It’s so hard!
YES, girlfriends, this is finally happening.
The US may need to assemble a panel for over a year to reach the main conclusions from the financial crisis, but thanks to one turn on the Citi merry-go-round, several Norwegian municipalities have already completed the job. Should the seven municipalities pull off a major upset and win their $200 million lawsuit against the now $5/share company for their investment losses, those gains would pale in comparison to some of the valuable life lessons learned over the past several years.
“The small communities who went to the market all hoped to get rich,” a chastened member of Vik’s city council, Morten Oystein Holmberg, said in an interview at his home overlooking the gentle rapids of the Vikja River bubbling toward the Sognefjord. “As politicians, now we know we are not entitled to gamble with citizens’ money. That’s my conclusion.”
But it’s not just politicians in Norway who have a new outlook on the world. The folks who were supposed to help represent the municipalities’ interests also see the world differently now.
“The only ones who made money from these investments were the issuer and the broker,” (lawyer Jon) Skjorshammer said in his sleek offices overlooking an Oslo boat slip. “And now the lawyers,” he added, chuckling softly.
This has been a great laugh alright. No doubt people couldn’t contain themselves when the elderly were sleeping in the halls in nursing homes as a result of this non-stop comedy show. Hopefully next time Citi just sends some Tickle the Vickle dolls for those craving humor.
Yours wasn’t the only religion thoroughly fucked by Ponzi-Boy (though you are apparently the fall-guys).
There’s another religious group that was taken in by Bernard Madoff, one that’s less well known than the Jewish community he so widely infiltrated: the Sufis.
A number of Sufis, who practice a mystical form of Islam, and Sufi groups on both US coasts entrusted millions of dollars to a California lawyer, Richard M. Glantz, who is a member of the Sufi community. He in turn placed their money with Madoff. The connection: Glantz, raised in a Jewish family, is the son of a New York accountant who had placed $88 million in client funds with Madoff.
For members of the Sufi community, the Madoff news came as a particular blow. A group whose traditions include embracing all religions, woodsy retreats, and meditative dancing, Sufis may have been overly trusting of Madoff, they now say, and unsophisticated about investing.
“I really believe it’s a wake-up call,” Linden said.
Followers of a mystical religion were taken in by Madoff scheme [Boston Globe]
In the competition to see which side of the Atlantic will claim the title for the worst populist driven regulatory legislation, the chairman of the FSA is looking to make it a one horse race. Adair Turner is kicking around the idea of slapping a tax on banks to give to the world’s poor.
“If increased capital requirements are insufficient, I am happy to consider taxes on financial transactions… Such taxes have long been the dream of development economists and those who care about climate change — a nice sensible revenue source for funding global public goods.”
As taxes and regulations continue to bombard everything that moves in London, you’d think the prospect of yet another cash drain would send shivers up the spine of the UK authorities as the city’s competitiveness as a financial center comes under fire.
“It’s clear to me that the FSA has to be very, very wary of seeing the competitiveness of London as a major aim, and that’s not a popular thing to say because it has been defined as an aim,” Turner said.
With friends of a healthy banking sector like these, who needs enemies?
FSA Chairman Proposes Global Tax on Banks to Aid Poor [Bloomberg]
As previously mentioned, shortly after taking Ed Liddy’s job off his hands, new AIG head Robert Benmosche popped over to his Croatian villa for a little vacay. When could we expect Bobby back at the office some people wanted to know? Soon-ish! September 7th to be exact, as it’d be pretty ridiculous to come in right before Labor Day Weekend, when everyone is totally checked out anyway. Furthermore, he doesn’t actually need to be in the office to get shit done, Benmosche told Reuters yesterday in an interview from his home overlooking the Adriatic. He also discussed some other stuff (namely tips for chick slaying), which we’ll get into presently.
On working hard for the money, wherever, whenever:
“People criticise me for being on vacation. I actually started work a week before I was actually supposed to,” he said. “I do have conference calls every day, I have all my information sent here. I can work here as well as in the office in New York.”
On keeping him happy by making it rain, as he has offers of golden showers from a million other institutions coming out the ass:
The new AIG CEO is being paid more than his predecessor, Ed Liddy, who made just $1 a year. AIG said it will pay Benmosche $3 million in cash and $4 million in fully-vested stock. He also could receive a bonus valued as high as $3.5 million.
“It’s the bottom end of a competitive range,” he said, adding that he earned more previously and would be judged ultimately on his performance. “You still need to pay people competitively.”
The top financial regulator in Massachusetts, William Galvin, wants to have a closer look at exactly what was going on inside the Goldman huddle and has subpoenaed GS to open up the playbook. Galvin alleges that clients who were left behind the velvet rope af the Goldman were disadvantaged by those who had access to the platinum level membership benefits. If those clients were disadvantaged and angry before, they should be cheering now. With the details of the huddle system coming to light, clients now know exactly what they’ll get for showing a little more love for Lloyd & Co.
Goldman Subpoenaed on Huddles [WSJ]
Whether it was simply displaying the classic signs of an innocent man or merely a way to get some prolonged time in an air-conditioned room, Sir Allen is now on injured reserve. Apparently the opportunity to advance his ‘it wasn’t a Ponzi’ scheme campaign this morning was a bit too much for Stanford as he was brought to the hospital instead of the courthouse after his pulse topped out around 300 beats per minute. Somewhere in Butner, NC King Ponz is laughing out loud at just how much AS has to learn about this game.
Stanford Taken to Hospital After Pulse Rate Hits 300 [Bloomberg]
