Let it be known: if you are not interested in having your supervisor (circle all that apply:) send you videos of himself masturbating, texts about the stuff he wants to do you rife with spelling and grammatical errors, grope you, or leave you lewd notes via Post-It, consider not accepting a gig with Guerreiro Wealth Holdings, where, allegedly, this kind of thing is not frowned upon.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Karen Lo, 20, said she’d only been working at Guerreiro Wealth Holdings for a short period of time when boss Thomas Guerriero sent her the astonishing e-mail “with a link to an obscene pornographic video containing explicit sound and imagery depicting male masturbation and ejaculation” this past Nov. 5. The person is only identified by the tag “stallionman_69,” but Lo “believes the masturbating male, whose face is off-camera, is Guerriero.” The stunned stockbroker texted her boss back a short time later saying “I really can’t mix work with my personal life . . . I really hope this doesn’t affect work.” Guerriero responded hours later, saying, “No that’s fine. I hope we can be friends though,” the suit says. But “the unwelcome sexualized banter” didn’t stop.
As you’re likely aware, one of the most important skills to master when you’re in this money making game is to be able to regulate your emotions. You can’t freak out every time you lose a little cash, and on the flip side, it’s probably a good idea to avoid doing an end-zone dance on the days you make it rain. Many of Wall Street’s most successful investors have perfected the art of staying cool and calm, with the best of the best being basically dead inside. Then you have Bill Ackman.
The Dead Inside model is not the one he’s chosen to follow over the course of his career. On the contrary, Bill is stuffed to the gills with emotion, and often feels compelled to let them out. No, scratch that. Letting his salty tears flow is not a choice, just like Ackman’s passion for standing up to institutions like MBIA and saying “J’accuse!” wasn’t a choice, it was his duty.
Obviously these raw and uncut displays of what Bill’s feeling haven’t prevented him from doing pretty well for himself. They have, however, caused a certain amount of agita for those around him. Bill’s visible tears at last year’s Target shareholder meeting were deeply distressing to Joe Nocera, who hasn’t yet evolved to the point where he’s comfortable seeing a grown man cry. And in Christine Richard’s Confidence Game: How A Hedge Fund Manager Called Wall Street Bluff, we learn of a couple other instances in which Bill’s inability to keep it locked up– one the adorable quirks we love most about him and probably the source of his success!– resulted in some minor and major fallout (making an employee uneasy and the enacting of the aforementioned Nut Kicking Rule, respectively). Richard writes: Continue reading »
In case you missed it, here’s Lloyd Blankfein’s first extended television interview in, well, we can’t remember how long. Goldman has long been a firm that refused to answer most journalists’ questions and usually gave a “no comment” to interview requests, even the most innocuous ones.
But, as Lloyd told Charlie Rose on Friday, the firm is doing some “soul searching.” He conceded the firm’s longstanding strategy of not engaging with the public was “probably a mistake.” (Secretive hedge funds take note.) That strategy sowed a misunderstanding among the public at large about what the firm actually does, he said. Continue reading »
I don’t really have anything else to say about that, I just thought that you should know. (Although I will add that I’m surprised Carl Levin didn’t work this into last week’s routine: The email thread praising Raazi begins with Sparks writing to Montag and telling him “Cactus Raazi did a fantastic job for the desk.” Sparks added, “Please recognize Cactus when you get a chance.”) [Reuters]
Buffett Praises Blankfein, Backs Goldman Sachs on CDO Trade Probed by SEC (Bloomberg)
“He’s done a great job running that firm,” Buffett said in Omaha. “My choice would be to have Lloyd running it this year, next year and 10 years from now.”
Goldman Sachs Reportedly ‘Tightening’ Practices (MarketWatch)
Monday morning laughs: “One practice being considered would see Goldman Sachs employees required to confirm that clients understand risks associated with a given security and how these dealings might change their total risk exposure. Another proposal, the report said, would have Goldman Sachs take extra steps to ensure that complicated securities, including structured debt products, are marketed only to those who understand them.”
Greece Bailout Plan Includes Support Fund for Country’s Banks (BW)
Greece’s international bailout plan will include a 10 billion-euro ($13.3 billion) support fund for the nation’s banks, which may face rising bad loans as the economy shrinks. “The objective of the fund will be to ensure that the Greek banks are well capitalized at all times,” Servaas Deroose, deputy director general of the European Commission’s economic and financial affairs department, said in Athens yesterday. “Injections will, as always, be subject to tough conditions.”
Conan O’Brien ’60 Minutes’ Interview: Coco Makes First TV Appearance Since Leaving NBC (HuffPo)
“That first day that I woke up and was no longer the host of the Tonight Show, I remember the first thought I had is ‘I am not shaving.’ And that was my small victory, you know. Okay, so I lost the Tonight Show, but I’ll show them– I’ll stop shaving.”
UBS Q1 Net Profit Seen Topping Forecasts (Reuters)
The Swiss bank looks set to top analysts’ expectations next week by posting a first-quarter net profit of between 2.2 billion Swiss francs and 2.5 billion Swiss francs ($2.0 billion to $2.3 billion), a Swiss newspaper reported without citing sources. UBS, which said last month its pretax profit would be at least 2.5 billion Swiss francs, is seen swinging to a first-quarter net profit of 2.02 billion francs, according to the average estimate in a Reuters poll.
Knowing how this thing works, I come prepared. Rather than waiting 15 minutes for a lousy drink and having to face the crowd sober, I made a pit stop in the parking lot with some premium cannabis sativa. AK-47, for those taking notes. In addition to alleviating my social anxiety, it allows me to read the thoughts of others. A power I would otherwise have no grasp of around this many people. Mostly, people tend to be thinking about how awesome my mustache is. Or how they’re glad I’m not their son in law. Continue reading »
Let it be known: if you are not interested in having your supervisor (circle all that apply:) send you videos of himself masturbating, texts about the stuff he wants to do you rife with spelling and grammatical errors, grope you, or leave you lewd notes via Post-It, consider not accepting a gig with Guerreiro Wealth Holdings, where, allegedly, this kind of thing is not frowned upon. 
