Bloomberg reports that Boston-based Wellington Management Company is the fifth money manager to have internal documents requested by the feds, though the request appears to have been over the phone as opposed to in person and by brute force. For any investors or otherwise connected people worrying right about now, put those fears to rest. Continue reading »
Archive for November 2010
Kingdom Holding Co. said the investment firm and its chairman, Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, invested $500 million in General Motors Co.’s recent initial public offering. The transaction represents 1% of the value of GM’s subscriptions, Kingdom Holding said Tuesday in a statement emailed to Zawya Dow Jones. The firm cited “the global strength of the General Motors brand, the relatively attractive offering price, and the company’s growth prospects in Brazil and China.” [WSJ]
Anyone thinking of making any sudden moves should remember this. Continue reading »
Is Balyasny lucky number 4 to get face time with the FBI? Continue reading »
Ireland Banks Are All For Sale: Central Banker (Reuters)
Ireland’s banks are effectively up for sale, central bank Governor Patrick Honohan said on Tuesday as Dublin sought aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund to prop up its lenders. “They are for sale as far as I am concerned,” Honohan said. “I’ve been an advocate for a number of years for small countries to have foreign owners for their banks.”
North Korea Fires At South (WSJ)
A South Korean military unit on the island, called Yeonpyeong, returned fire, while military officials scrambled fighter jets. In addition to the deaths, at least 16 more were injured, military officials said. Three civilians were injured, and the island’s 1,200 residents were sent scrambling for bomb shelters. “The whole neighborhood is on fire,” island resident Na Young-ok said from a bomb shelter about an hour after the shelling began. “I think countless houses are on fire, but no fire truck is coming. We have a fire station but the shots are intermittently coming.
Greenhill Hired By US Treasury To Help Dispose Of AIG Stake (BW)
The department agreed on Nov. 18 to hire Greenhill for the next 18 months, according to a contract posted on the Treasury’s website yesterday. New York-based Greenhill will collect $500,000 a month for the first year and $175,000 a month thereafter.
Carlos Slim Buys Stake in Money Manager BlackRock (Bloomberg)
Arturo Elias, Slim’s spokesman, said yesterday in a telephone interview that he thinks Slim’s holding is less than the 2 percent figure reported Nov. 21 by the Financial Times, which cited unidentified people familiar with the investment. Elias said he didn’t know the exact amount of the stake or whether Slim holds it directly or through a fund.
DE Shaw Exec To Launch Own Hedge Fund (HFMWeek)
Daniel Posner, managing director at DE Shaw & Co. who heads the firm’s distressed securities group, is departing the firm and expected to start his own hedge fund manager.According to two people briefed on the plans, the new offering will invest in troubled companies. Posner’s plans come shortly after the quantitative hedge fund titan cut approximately 10% of its workforce after it faced a number of investor redemptions.
Bracing For Black Friday (Reuters)
“What I really like is that a lot of stores are opening before Black Friday,” said Gabriella Jones, a 49-year-old from Lake Forest, California, who was in Times Square traveling with her daughter on Wednesday. “It’s almost like Black Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.”
Culinary Masterpiece Was A Turkey (CD)
“When I stuff a turkey, I eschew traditional bread cubes in favor of White Castle hamburgers.” Continue reading »
$$$ Irish Aid Bid Triggers Election, May Force Moody’s Downgrade [Bloomberg]
$$$ S.E.C. Smarter About Insider Inquiries, Official Says [Dealbook]
$$$ Danielle Chiesi Says FBI Didn’t Advise Her of Rights [WSJ]
$$$ Texas Permanent chooses Gam to replace Goldman Sachs [HFMWeekly]
$$$ Odd Jobs: A Mexican Rodeo Clown in Queens [WSJ] Continue reading »
A 24-year-old Greenwich man posed as a hedge fund manager and took more than $33,000 from an unemployed Stamford man who was promised $7,000 a month in returns on his investment, police said. Mark Traisman, 24, of 1 Indian Chase Road, Greenwich, was arrested Monday morning at the Stamford Police Department and charged with first-degree larceny and second-degree forgery. He was brought to the Wilton Police Department shortly afterward to face larceny charges, police said. Stamford police Sgt. Peter diSpagna said a 26-year-old Stamford man and his 53-year-old mother came to the Greenwich Police Department in August to report a con in which Traisman allegedly posed as a hedge fund manager and tricked the son into giving him a $30,000 investment. He allegedly told the 26-year-old son that in exchange for the investment he could give him $7,000 to $8,000 a month in returns. [Stamford Advocate via BI]
Though we’ve had a good time with our parlor game, Who Will Be Next (To Get Raided) by the Feds as part of their Insider Trading Fest(ivius) 2010, I’d like to take a moment to get a little serious and a little personal. Over the next few days and weeks, some of our friends, colleagues, bosses and lovers are going to be accused of some stuff regarding the giving and receiving of hot tips. Because there isn’t a very black and white definition of insider trading, many firms across Wall Street, from Southern Manhattan to Southern Connecticut, will be sitting in fear, watching, wondering if the FBI is coming for them. The slightest stirring on the trading floor will freak them the fuck out. Basically, they’ll be living and working in total fear. And that upsets us just as much as it upsets the people waiting in limbo to find out if they’re going to get nailed by the feds. And while we can’t do anything to stop what’s coming, what we can do is offer a little hope. Here’s how.
At some point between now and the end of the year, a team of federal agents will be dispatched to our hedge fund of choice (how we have this pull will be revealed later). They will burst onto the scene, announcing their intent to get to the bottom of things. They will tell everyone to stay where they are and circle the highest ranking members of the firm, whose hands will be tied behind their backs. They’ll use verbal intimidation tactics like the ones mentioned in this morning’s Journal story, shouting at the targets, telling them it’s too late– they are going to be punished for being so very bad.
Then, strangely, the lights will go down and music will come on, playing “Hungry Like The Wolf.”
“Is this standard procedure?” people will wonder. And the answer is yes, it is. It’s standard procedure when you’re being paid a visit by FBI… Continue reading »
Earlier today, Diamondback Capital was the second of god knows how many firms to be raided by the FBI as part of its Insider Trading Fest(ivus) 2010. The hedge fund had nothing to say about the matter at the time but they’ve just issues a statement letting every who was worried know that nothing is fucked. Continue reading »
This car and two others like it are still parked outside the firm’s Boston offices circa now. Continue reading »
In the last hour, three hedge funds have been raided by the FBI– Level Global, Diamondback Capital, and Loch Capital. According to federal authorities Insider Trading Fest(ivus) 2010 may turn out to be the biggest scandal to (and this is a paraphrase) “rock lots of people’s worlds,” the assumption being that there will be many more bodies. Annoyingly, however, the government is refusing to give any hints as to who’s going down next. And we can’t take the suspense! Continue reading »
