First off, was this public knowledge Big Lar has a sweating problem? The narcolepsy, obviously, is right before our very eyes but I don’t think we’ve ever gotten into Summers’ other issues. But…good to know? From Jonathan Alter’s new book, The Promise: Continue reading »
Archive for May 2010
You like him! You really like him! Kind of!
The president may not appreciate them but you know what? Screw that guy. JD and LB don’t need him when they’ve got the votes of MBA Candidates. CNN Money’s annual ranking of the top companies business students want to work for is out and apparently these kids want a piece of James D and his li’l buddy more than ever before, clocking in at 7 and 3 respectively, moving up one and two slots each, with the extra love for GS being attributed to the gluttons for punishment at GS just dying to have Matt Taibbi throw scalding hot coffee in their faces (the school even added a class to prepare its graduates for that exact scenario this year). Also making progress with the business leaders of tomorrow was Citi, which jumped from the 59th to the 51st slot, just losing out in popularity to UBS. Still beat HSBC (76) though, so, something to be happy about. Continue reading »
GLG founder Pierre Lagrange is mates with Brad PItt, an executive producer on Nicholas Cage’s new flick “Kick Ass” and he’s got rockstar locks of hair. But that kind of flamboyance may not fit hand in glove with the button-down culture of GLG’s new owner, Man Group. Continue reading »
Without question, it’s been a difficult year and a half for Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon. While they may not have had to deal with the abysmal failures of some of their peers, they’ve had to grapple with something perhaps even more difficult: being punished for their manifold success. Peasants with pitchforks, deranged Rolling Stone writers, college-coeds, Washington– they’ve all dished the hate and dished it hard. It’s been pretty tough to take but rather than commiserate, rather than stroke each others’ hair/shining pate, consoling one another with the fact that people will always try to tear down those who are richer and better looking than them, the two have displayed some signs turning on the other. Jamie has expressed to those close to him that nothing has grinded his gears more these last few months than being compared to that guy, who’s demonstrated what some believe to be a deaf ear to the populist, anti-Wall Street sentiment, which James has never done. And Lloyd, while it’s yet to show up in the papers, has surely spent many an evening bitching to Gary Cohn about the fact that Mr. Dimon could clown-face the a homeless guy and receive a standing ovation for his seed-spreading generosity and commitment to the arts. And while an anecdote from this week’s New York cover story could be interpreted as further signs of tension, of animosity between the two, all we see is progress. Continue reading »
AIG Crisis Probes Fail To Meet High Bar (WSJ)
Late last Friday, Joe Cassano and two colleagues who were also investigated were told through their lawyers that they wouldn’t face criminal charges after prosecutors found evidence supporting Mr. Cassano’s account, people familiar with the matters said. Mr. Cassano “is grateful” that prosecutors “did their jobs by following the facts to the end,” said his lawyers at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
Psychoanalyzing The Relationship Between Obama And Wall Street (NYM)
“The majority of Wall Street thinks, ‘Hey, you lent us money. We did a trade. We paid you back. When you had me down, you could have crushed me, you could have done whatever you wanted. You didn’t do it! So stop your bitching and stop telling me I owe you, because I already paid you everything! The fact that I’m making money now is because I’m smarter than you!’ I think that’s where you’ve got this massive disconnect. In simple human terms, the government is saying, ‘I saved your life, and all you did was thank me once. You should be calling me every day: Thank you. Thank you.’ The guy who saved the life expects more. And the guy whose life is saved says, ‘I already thanked you!’ ”
PM: Greece Doesn’t Need to Default or Restructure (Reuters)
“We have no need for defaulting on payments or restructuring,” Papandreou told El Pais. “We have opted not to do so. We have opted to pay back the loans we have requested.” When asked, Papandreou said he did not believe his government would reach a point beyond which it could not ask people to tighten their belts further in order to convince markets its public finances were in order. “That is what we have decided, and that is the reason why we have this program of measures from the European Union,” he said.
Spanish PM vows to stay firm on cuts despite strike threat (SMH)
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Sunday his government would hold firm on spending cuts despite pressure from unions which have threatened a general strike over the measures. “I know there are protests by those who do not share (the government’s views), like the unions, but we will not change,” he told a meeting of his Socialist Party in the southeastern city of Elche. “There will be no change, nor any swerving from the adopted path. We will respond to the circumstances and govern responsibly, thinking about the future of Spain and not any election call,” he added.
Dems play old school hard ball with Wall St. bill (Politico)
“Money is influential, but votes will kick money’s ass any time they come up against each other,” Barney Frank said. “In the Senate, once public opinion got engaged, it blew away the lobbyists, the money, campaign contributions. Public opinion drove that bill.”
Fannie, Freddie Fix Is Federal Hot-Potato (WSJ)
“The administration has put it on the ‘too hard’ pile,” says David Felt, a former senior lawyer at the companies’ federal regulator who presided over the government takeover of the companies in 2008.
Geithner and ‘Uncle’ Wang to Spar Over Yuan in China (BW)
Just a FYI: “The Chinese official who will face Timothy Geithner in Beijing today jokingly calls himself the Treasury secretary’s ‘uncle’ because of a family connection.”
Rogue trader guilty of unauthorised HSBC shares deal (The Guardian)
“A rogue trader at boutique City stockbroker Lewis Charles Securities today pleaded guilty to four counts of false accounting in relation to an unauthorised short position he took in 7m HSBC shares last summer on his employer’s account. The disastrously ill-fated gamble – effectively a bet on a decline in the share price of Britain’s largest bank – was made by Jonathan Bunn. He was only permitted to trade by matching buyers and sellers of securities and was prohibited from building up a proprietary position: one using Lewis Charles’s own funds. Ignoring these restrictions, he entered into the short trade on 22 July, increasing it over the course of the six following trading days to cover 6,950,000 HSBC shares. The position was taken ahead of the bank’s interim results announcement on 3 August. Bunn wrote four deal-slips, which purported to record purchases of shares and submitted them to the back-office at Lewis Charles giving the illusion that the share sales had been “matched” with buyers, and that the stockbroker did not have an exposure to price movements. Asked by back-office colleagues for further details to verify the purported share purchases, Bunn continued to claim the trades were genuine. He also failed to turn up for work.”
Man sucked into sausage seasoning machine (AP)
The accident happened Thursday night as the man was cleaning the vacuum-type machine that is used to season the meat at DiLigui Sausage Co. Police said the man’s head and shoulders became stuck in the machine after it somehow activated while being cleaned. Continue reading »
$$$ No Deal Near For SEC, Goldman [WSJ]
$$$ Traders weep as the joys of anonymous trading spread [FT]
$$$ `Nervous‘ Wall Street Waits for Congress to Kill Limits on Swaps Trading [Bloomberg]
$$$ Banks and that wacky junk bond market [peHUB]
$$$ Greenlight Capital gold offerings attract more than $130 million [MarketWatch]
$$$ Ex-Wachovia VP charged with bilking bank of $11M [Charlotte Observer]
$$$ DLJ Reunites as Blackstone’s James Laments `Greed’ [Bloomberg] Continue reading »
Mark Kurland, Danielle Chiesi’s partner at New Castle Funds who pleaded guilty to insider trading in Galleon Group case, just got slapped with a 27-month prison sentence and a $900,000 fine for participating in the alleged scheme.
Kurland, 61, had argued for probation saying his life had already been ruined by the insider trading charges. “Regardless of his sentence, Mark’s legacy is forever ruined. He can no longer work in the profession he loved and thrived in,” his lawyer said.
Meanwhile, Robert Moffat, the IBM exec who also pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy in the Galleon case in March, had an “intimate relationship” with Chiesi and, therefore, should get a shorter sentence than Kurland, prosecutors said at a hearing today.
Earlier: Former IBM Exec Bob Moffatt Had A Really Good Excuse For Passing Inside Info To Danielle Chiesi
Undoubtedly, there’s many financier out there who’s envious of Arki Busson. They may have achieved the same level of success as the fund of funds manager or more but the EIM founder has a few things they don’t. There’s the model and actress girlfriends. There’s the willingness of reporters to fellate him in print. And there’s the sex god looks. Those dimples! That hair!* But please, do not be jealous of the fact that women and men alike spontaneously orgasm at just the thought the thought of those cheeks. If you can’t help it, just know this– sometimes, Arki is jealous of you. Sometimes Arki wishes he were ugly as sin too. Continue reading »
Sen. Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas Democrat, was able to push her controversial derivatives amendment into the financial regulatory reform bill yesterday, despite threats from Wall Street. And any banker that thinks Blanche is going to back off derivatives reform after she wins the Arkansas primary runoff on June 8 has no clue how hard-nosed she really is.
“Suggestions that my provisions are the result of the current political climate are completely baseless,” Ms. Lincoln told DealBook. “I am not concerned about politics when Americans are depending on us to ensure that our financial system is secure.”
We’ll see about that. In the meantime, we wonder if Sen. Lincoln is tough enough to do a Dunkaroo – an old Arkansas drinking tradition perfected in Little Rock. Continue reading »
Specifically ones related to “cube life,” which according to this memo sent to employees, include not pulling a “prarie-dog,” slurping, tapping your pen, having a heated conversation with your mother, or audibly breathing.
From: [Redacted at Morgan Stanley]
Subject: Cubicle EtiquetteAs our team has grown and our space has become more populated, just a few reminders to basic guidelines for cubicle life.
Privacy
· Never enter someone’s cubicle without permission. Behave as though cubicles have doors and do not enter before you have eye contact “permission” from the occupant.
· Don’t “prairie-dog” over the tops of cubes or peek in as you walk past each one.
