Opening Bell: 03.31.10
How Lou Lucido Let AIG Lose $35 Billion With Goldman Sachs CDOs (Bloomberg)
Jeffrey Gundlach is involved, natch.
3 Women Sue Bank of America and Merrill Lynch Over Bias (AP)
The suit, filed in United States District Court in Brooklyn, accused Bank of America and Merrill Lynch of giving male counterparts of the three employees bigger bonuses and better opportunities. The women also said that the companies sought to punish them when they complained about perceived inequalities. One claimed that after she protested, she was verbally reprimanded and ordered to seek preapproval when filing expense reports for business lunches, something men never had to do.
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit Needs a Hankie (NYO)
Ridgewood’s Men in Transition group is for men who have been laid off from their high-paying Manhattan jobs in business and finance. No women allowed!
Pssst: Wall Street Is Hiring Again (Time)
Among experienced bankers, Goldstein says those who work with clients in the energy and healthcare sectors have the best chance of snagging a job. Many firms are betting those sectors recover first. But top to bottom, financial firms are significantly adding new staff for the first time since the fiscal crisis. Big, guaranteed paychecks are back as well.
Corker Says He Can't Back Current Financial Overhaul (WSJ)
"I couldn't support the bill in its current form," Mr. Corker said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "I am absolutely not throwing in the towel. I have no plans to support the current legislation. I hope we'll get back to the negotiating table."
Afghanistan now world's top cannabis source (Reuters)
Long the world's largest producer of opium, the raw ingredient of heroin, Afghanistan has now become the top supplier of cannabis, with large-scale cultivation in half of its provinces, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
Economist Johnson Urges Break-Up Of Big US Banks (NYT)
"The process of saving them ... has allowed them to build themselves up so that their balance sheets are now bigger than they were before the crisis. That doesn't make any sense, the too big to fail problem has become worse."
Schottenfeld Pays $1.2 Million to End SEC Insider-Trading Suit (Bloomberg)
The SEC sued Schottenfeld, two lawyers and six Wall Street traders in November, saying they were involved in a $20 million insider trading scheme in which Arthur Cutillo, a lawyer at Ropes & Gray, passed confidential information through an intermediary to Zvi Goffer, a proprietary trader at Schottenfeld who was known as “the Octopussy” in the insider-trading ring.