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Disappointed by MF Global’s dismal results today, its outsize European exposure, and its CEO’s politics, the Fox Business correspondent tweeted:
Maybe! Other possibilities include:
1. The Volcker Rule doesn’t go into effect until 2012, and
2. When it does go into effect, it will apply only to FDIC insured banks, not creepy quasi-bank things like MF Global.
But the Volcker Rule does matter for creepy quasi-banks. Read more »
The Ponz Master apparently emailed Gasparino to tell him as much last night and to let him know that their previously scheduled date? CANCELED. Read more »
There comes a time in every man’s life when he needs to offer a friend a ride on the straight talk express. The better the friend, the harder it is and the more important it is to force them to hear the truth. It might be difficult to say, and the words might sting but putting them out there where they can’t hide is the mark of a true friend and someone who cares enough to be honest no matter how much it hurts. For Charlie Gasparino, that time is today. And that friend is Brian Moynihan. Read more »
In a recent interview with New York, Lloyd Blankfein said “I’m tired of [Charlie] Gasparino. I wish he would quit.” Chaz apparently caught wind of Blankfein’s wish, and earlier this afternoon, took to Twitter to respond. Read more »
The past few years have not been the best of times, professionally speaking, for Lloyd Blankfein. As CEO of Goldman Sachs, the shit storm of the financial crisis landed on his head and with it, angry protesters, 75-100 pieces of hate mail each day, lawsuits, investigations, hearings before the Congressional brain trust, calls for him to be fired and/or jailed, the title of “Worst Person in the World,” executive MBA students who think they know how to run a bank better than he does, and half man/half horse semen aficionado Matt Taibbi.
While Lloyd is much loved within 200 West and among those who can’t resist the Lloyd Face, the hate from the outside has been difficult to take. Though he’s fully aware that “there’s a little bit of ‘for better or worse’” about a gig like his, and that “you can’t be the CEO without having to do what the CEOs have to do in distressed moments,” as Blankfein’s college roommate puts it, not having coveted “a public persona,” the “vilification makes him sad.” He’s not planning on leaving the firm any time soon but it’s clear LB needs a pick me up. Sitting down with New York recently for some real talk, he floated a few wants/wishes that, if you care at about him at all, should do your part to help grant. Read more »
You’re a former expert network analyst who ran a boutique firm called Broadband Research, counting hedge funds like SAC Capital, Citadel, and Maverick as your clients. In November, the Feds tried to use you as a pawn in their three-year insider trading investigation, by approaching you as you were “sipping wine on the porch,” threatening to arrest you, and then suggesting that rather doing so, they’d like you to “help” them by wearing a wire while speaking to “one guy in particular” they were after. Despite being told that if you didn’t cooperate, there’d be “trouble,” you told them to go fuck themselves, and not only that, you fired off an email to clients (not making use of the bcc field), informing them that “Two fresh faced eager beavers from the FBI showed up unannounced (obviously) on my doorstep thoroughly convinced that my clients have been trading on copious inside information. (They obviously have been recording my cell phone conversations for quite some time, with what motivation I have no idea.) We obviously beg to differ, so have therefore declined the young gentleman’s gracious offer to wear a wire and therefore ensnare you in their devious web.” Basically, you saved their asses.
Fast forward a few months and you’ve been forced to shutter your research firm and have run into some tough times. One of your former clients, Maverick Capital you say, still owes you money and you’re more than a little miffed the founder hasn’t responded to your most recent email in which you wrote:
“Yo Lee [Ainslie] homey, sorry to break it to you, but looks to me likely that Maverick will soon be charged with insider trading. Just thought I’d let you know…Regards, JK.”
What do you do? You get a guy known for delivering results to send a message. Read more »
Charlie Gasparino does pull-ups in East River Park Read more »
He’s just in between sets. Read more »
According to Chaz, sources are telling him that Cohen is “essentially brushing off the intensifying probe of SAC. He is not distracted. For all intents and purposes, he feels pretty confident about his chances.”
Catch Andrew Ross Sorkin’s column about Goldman Sachs this morning? Charlie Gasparino did and he didn’t like it. Noting Goldman Sachs’ desire not to make a big deal about the money it made correctly predicting the housing market crash, perhaps in an attempt not to attract anymore attention from Senator Carl “Goldman Sachs is a financial snake pit rife with greed, conflicts of interest, and wrongdoing” Levin, Sorkin encouraged the Masters of the Universe to stop denying their success. Rather, ARS would like to see them “take a bow,” as their housing call is something they should be proud of and which shareholders and taxpayers alike should be happy about, since it meant the latter didn’t have to bail the firm out to the extent it did Citi and AIG. And that pissed Gasparino off something fierce.
Normally he wouldn’t say anything (“‘I’m not and never have been in the Goldman is the root-of-all-evil-camp,” CG prefaces) but after last month’s antics wherein the firm dared to deny his report Lloyd Blankfein’s friends claim he’s thinking of retiring, Chaz can no longer bite his tongue. Not to get too off-topic, but it still baffles CG as to how GS spokesman Lucas vP “can deny someone’s impression from a private conversation.” Sorry, he just had to get that out there. But back to the suggestion that Goldman should be taking any bows– bull shit, Gasparino says. Bull, shit.
“The last thing Goldman should be doing right now is taking a bow and telling the world it’s a great firm, because when it comes down to it, Goldman isn’t really a great firm.
“What is it then,” CG asks fuming. Not being here to simply raise questions without providing answers, Gasparino goes on, attributing a well-known saying to a guy he gets drunk with. Read more »
A month ago, Charlie Gasparino reported that Lloyd Blankfein’s friends had told him LB was tired of the grind and mulling over stepping down as CEO of Goldman Sachs by the end of the 2011. Goldman denied the story and reassured the world that Lloyd would be with us for many years to come. Apparently these so-called friends, like Gasparino, who said the denial was merely proof that GS was lying to him, beg to differ and have continued to tell the press Lloyd is on the way out. Read more »
