Opening Bell: 07.29.09
Phibro Mum After White House Slams Reported $100 Million Payday (Reuters)
'Cause there's nothing to say. Just give Andrew Hall his bag of money, and nobody gets hurt.
Bernie: SEC Was Asleep (NYP)
Ponzi Boy cannot stress enough just how easy it was to pull this thing off.
Goldman Disputes 'Evil' Tag (NYP)
Here's what the delightfully British Lucas van Praag had to say about this article: "garbled nonsense," "shoddy journalism," and "The mistakes are so egregious that one has to question Mr. Hagan's motives."
UBS Sued over 77-Year-Old Lady's $26 Million Loss (AP)
Awkward: "Chan Wai-yee, who was born in mainland China, filed a lawsuit Tuesday saying UBS bankers never spelled out the risk and potential losses of investing in leveraged derivative products, known as accumulators, that bet on Hong Kong stocks.
Chan also says the bank led her to sign several documents in English -- including one that made her a "professional investor" under local securities regulations -- even though she doesn't speak the language and never finished primary school."
Inquiry Widens as UBS Client Pleads Guilty (NYT)
This is the thanks the Swiss get for such hard work and creativity? "Mr. Chernick's private banker and a Swiss lawyer would dress as tourists when meeting Mr. Chernick at New York hotels, with the executive lying to customs officials by saying he was there to visit his brother. They mailed, rather than hand-carried, Mr. Chernick's bank statements, for fear that customs officials would seize hard copies. They also cut out Mr. Chernick's name and address from printed statements."
A Comprehensive View On Bank Profits (WSJ)
The "secret" to Wells Fargo's success: FASB.
Michael Milken's New Business Advice Site (Bits)
Bizmore is only backed, and not edited, by Milken but that doesn't mean he can't pop in every now and then to dispense pearls of wisdom re: doing time.
Should You Invest In Mortgage-Backed Securities? (WSJ)
The BlackRock Legacy Securities Public-Private Trust says yes.