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Dealbreaker faithful, an exciting opportunity is upon us. Does everyone remember money manager Albert Hsu? To refresh, the co-founder of fund of funds Anchor Point Capital went away in 2007 after it was revealed that he went on to a site called CollarMe.com and posing as his ex-mistress, placed an ad seeking an undesired (on her part) “real-life abduction and rape scene,” after she told them they should see other people. Just before he began serving his two and half year sentence, Hsu told the Stamford Advocate that he hoped to return to investing after being released from prison. At the time, we ran a poll asking if, given a chance to put money with a recently paroled sex offender, you would sign up. Now that the opportunity has presented itself, I’d like to revisit that question.
For the purposes of due diligence, a few more details about Hsu:
* His new venture is called Tao Investments and was founded in May (he’s also got a consulting biz on the side, catering to “clients i need of professional investment management experience”)
* The equity options strategy is up 15% year-to-date
* He gets that there are some trust issues to work through, telling FINalternatives that on account of the whole attempting to have his lady friend raped and murdered thing, he faces “some credibility issues” Read more »
Bill Fleckenstein Has Some Thoughts On QE2: “These Idiots Think We Can Print Our Way To Prosperity”
By Bess Levin
In addition to a question for Bloomberg TV anchor Betty Lui, who asked Bill to “admit” that “the markets were in a better mood yesterday after QE2,” which is simply this: “Betty? Betty? Betty? How about in summer 2008, 2007, were the markets in a good mood? Were the markets in a good mood then?” Read more »
Other banks would take Friday and enjoy the weekend but not Goldman Sachs, according to CNBC’s Kate Kelly. They get shit done before close of business and none of this Summer Friday crap. Of course, there are still a lot of unknowns, a lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous, including but not limited to, will GS seed this entity? Will it act as prime broker and if so, will it be treated like every other client or will it get extra-special treatment, like being told beforehand trades will be front-run (“we’re just going to help ourselves to this, thanks sugar”)? These are the things we need answers to. Read more »
Former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt: You Could Clip Together 2,000 Copies Of The “Pre-BOOTY Call Agreement,” Slap On A Dodd-Frank Cover Page And No One In Congress Would Be The Wiser
By Bess LevinWhy? According to Pitt, in a bold (though perhaps not so far-fetched) claim, nobody’s actually read the thing.
Dodd-Frank is a ponderous beast. If Congress were paid by the word or the page, this verbiage might be understandable. But neither of those conditions exists, meaning all we can be certain of is that no one in Congress or the administration has actually read the entire bill. Who actually knows what’s in the bill?
“The Chief Executive Of The British Bankers Association joins us on the line, Angela Knight. You’ve said that bankers are treated like lepers and carriers of bird flu. Do you not think that is no doubt because your members took huge sums of taxpayer money, caused a collapse of the economy, which is leading so some of the biggest cuts in public spending that we can ever remember and while the country suffers, your members take bonuses like nothing has happened? Is not then understandable that bankers are treated in that way?” [BBC]
Astounding Research Reveals Highly Compensated Bosses May Not Give Rat’s Ass About Their Organization’s Peons
By Bess LevinAccording to a new study, a high salary may actually make your company’s CEO meaner. In the study’s white paper, “When Executives Rake in Millions: Meanness in Organizations,” professors from Harvard, Rice and the University of Utah argue that rising income inequality between executives and ordinary workers results in “power asymmetries in the workplace such that top executives come to view lower level workers as dispensable objects not worthy of human dignity.” [HP via HNM] Read more »
As previously mentioned, I did a little interview with CNBC’s Trish Regan. We discussed, among other things, her time at DE Shaw and whether or not Charlie Gasparino and Dennis Kneale are necrophiliacs. Read more »
Kevin Spacey is reportedly starring in a 24-esque film called Margin Call (also starring Demi Moore as a chief risk officer). Last week Spacey started researching the role at Citi’s downtown offices where he peppered the Little Viks with questions such as “What is it like to earn millions of dollars in one afternoon [which presumably garnered looks of confusion] and what about losing that amount” and “Is it possible to be good at what you do without liking the company you work for,” and by extension, your boss? Read more »
“If Megan Fox were a Hollywood stock, should you buy, sell, or hold?” At least one thing to take into consideration is that she’s had Shia Labeouf’s tongue in her mouth. [NYM]
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