Zarti, reprising the role of Jake LaMotta
In early 2008, Libya’s sovereign-wealth fund controlled by Col. Moammar Gadhafi gave $1.3 billion to Goldman Sachs Group to sink into a currency bet and other complicated trades. The investments lost 98% of their value, internal Goldman documents show… In July 2008, Mustafa Zarti, the fund’s deputy chairman, summoned Mr. Kabbaj, Goldman’s North Africa chief, to a meeting with the fund’s legal and compliance staff, according to Libyan Investment Authority emails reviewed by the Journal. One person who attended the meeting says Mr. Zarti was “like a raging bull,” cursing and threatening Mr. Kabbaj and another Goldman employee. Goldman arranged for security to protect the employees until they left Libya the next day, according to people familiar with the matter.
Update: According to Lucas van Praag, the Libyans’ anger was misplaced:
Van Praag said the trades that resulted in a huge loss for Libya were designed and approved by the LIA and that Goldman was hired to execute the trades. He also said the Journal report doesn’t mention that in mid-2008, Goldman recommended restructuring the investments and asked the LIA if they wanted to discuss it. Van Praag said the LIA did not respond to Goldman’s query.
[WSJ]
Always request a conference call when losing that kind of money.
–guy who is convincing himself he’s not a coward
Is anyone really surprised? Wait a week until we hear about who was on the other (winning) end of that $1.3 Billion Dollar bet. Might be someone whose name starts will a G and ends with a Sack.
Which bank’s name, pray tell, ends with “Sack”?
Give me a break. I read this on Zero Hedge 2 years ago.
Gilden Brass Sack. I beleive that’s David Tepper’s bank
An article that appeared in the WSJ this morning?
That’s how good Zero Hedge truly is.
Maybe they just multiplied instead of divided by the exchange rate.
Stopped reading once I realized it was about “Libyans” and not “Lesbians”.
Government * Arab = Dumb ^ 2 money
No you didn’t you Libyan-loving perv.
Kabbaj probably told the other guy that he was giving him the account. Just had to fly down there to introduce him to Zarti. “You’ll love him! Great guy!”
U mad? sorry, LOL
-GS
Too bad Zarti didn’t pull a DSK on Blankfein. There’s somebody who deserves to be assraped
You forgot to sign that, matt taibbi
Love these guys! I know they could get rid of our deficit in a few weeks if we just let them…
An IMF executive and a Goldman Sachs investment banker were strolling down a street in Tripoli when the IMF guy sees a beautiful woman and says, “Boy, I’d like to fuck her!” and the Goldman Sachs guy replies, “Out of what?”
Nice adaptation
Execute. Hee. I see what you did there.
Could be 5, 10, or 15 years from now, but the Blankfein finds himself re-enacting the chase scene with the Libyan Terrorists from Back To The Future. Hope his reactor-powered flying DeLorean is up to snuff.
And I knew ZH was going to publish the story six weeks before they did. That’s just how I roll..
I guess the portfolio of used pinball machine parts didn’t hold up too well.
If you dont want to get dirty, stay out of the pigpen.
Ripping off Quadaffi = doing God’s work