Bernie and Sir Allen may need elaborate schemes to swindle people out of billions, but in the emerging markets, fraud tends to be a bit more direct. Take for example Kazakhstan. While some may look to bad loans as the primary culprit for the outbreak of restructurings, one bank was being victimized by the time honored tradition of theft.
Abylkasym Mamyrbekov, ex-deputy chief executive of Alliance Bank, is accused of using deceptive accounting practices to shift 1.1 billion dollars (744 million euros) into privately held offshore bank accounts.
How exactly could the #2 in charge of the fourth largest lender in Kazakhstan get away with a ten-figure heist? Surely the guy in charge must have been keeping a watchful eye over his empire to guide it through the crisis.
The company’s former chief executive, Zhomart Ertayev, was also arrested over the scheme in August.
Then again, you never leave your wing man.
I read the title and knew this was a GM story.
Oh, tldr.
Greg, I’m going to invite you over for a game of Pin the AIDS Needle on the Blogger.
-Jeff Macke
Buyakasha!
Greg, I am going to sell you to ill tempered gypsies.
-Jeff Macke
Mark Haines is melting down on CNBC as Erin interviews a Wellpoint exec….!!
Greg – you have an uncanny talent for picking the least interesting news stories! How do you do it time after time? How many other stories do you discard as potentially holding some interest? You fascinate me!
Oops…it was Maria not Erin
I actually enjoyed this. First time in a long time.
Anyone that does deals in a place ending in “stan” deserves all that’s coming to them.
Just sayin’
Greg -
Please move to Kazakhstan. They may enjoy the crap you write.
Borat
Greg,
youre now linking to msn news. has typing in bloomberg.com become to arduous for you?
@8
YOU LIE!
1 DB post every hour is weak.
Good find, Greg! Want to have lunch with me today and talk about the inequities of divorce law?
-Mark Klein, MD
A nice scheme. These guys had Alliance provide guarantees to offshore companies that in turn borrowed from offshore banks using the Alliance guarantee. ALliance collateralized the guarantee with its portfolio of US Treasury securities. The treasuries remained on balance sheet, with no disclosure that they were pledged. When Alliance finally blew up, the offshore banks seized the treasuries. Unpleasant surprise for Alliance’s creditors and bondholders!
that’s an hilarious image!
@8 – I agree with you. I enjoyed it. Seriously.
I think I need to start drinking immediately so I can make ill-tempered comments on the rest of Greg’s posts today.
@ Ben_H,
Hahaha, Big Ben strikes again. Man, I loved the comments you sent with the afternoon marks at HBK. Is QS still around?
@13 i love the little bitches who feel the need to leave dick comments b/c DB isn’t giving them stories fast enough.
@19 – You love them? That’s a little weird.
I agree with @8 as well. Keep your posts like this, Greg
Greg, I am going to slowly increase the resistance of the keys on your keyboard so as to induce carpal tunnel and force your early retirement.
-Jeff Macke
@Portable. Yup, still here. My comments are on hiatus though (except here, of course!)
greg, that totally didn’t suck. attaboy!
@15 – even more egregious IMO is the offshore banks buying protection on the guarantees and then when everything went pop dumping them into the ISDA auction…taking cheapest to deliver to a very unpleasant extreme…