Opening Bell: 11.25.14
FBI Files Say Hedge Fund Analyst Made Millions on Tips From Dell Insider (Bloomberg)
The FBI files spell it out: An analyst at Citadel LLC, the hedge fund with $23 billion in capital invested globally, told agents he made millions of dollars trading on information from a company insider. It was December 2011, and the Justice Department was deep into a seven-year investigation into illegal stock tips. As authorities homed in on people at several other hedge funds over leaks from a Dell Inc. employee, agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation began questioning the Citadel analyst about the friendship he formed with the same Dell insider. In confidential FBI reports summarizing those interviews, agents recounted how the Citadel analyst received market-sensitive information from the Dell employee in 2008 and 2009. In one trade he told agents he made, the analyst bet against Dell after learning it would announce disappointing earnings, bringing in $5 million to $6 million when the company’s shares fell by more than 10 percent. He told agents he later discarded records. The analyst discussed helping the Dell employee hunt for a Wall Street job, the agents wrote. “It became an ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’” relationship, they wrote in a summary of a Jan. 4, 2012, interview with the Citadel analyst.
Twitter's CFO misfires with a private tweet (CNBC)
Anthony Noto, who joined the social network as its chief financial officer in July, appears to have posted a public tweet intended to be a private message, presumably intended for a fellow Twitter executive. "I still think we should buy them. He is on your schedule for Dec 15 or 16—we will need to sell him. I have a plan," Noto tweeted. The post was quickly deleted but not before it was screengrabbed by some his savvy 8,700 followers. It is unclear at this time which company Noto was referring to as a potential Twitter acquisition. For what it's worth, the last tweet favorited by Noto belongs to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, who reportedly turned down a $3 billion cash offer from Facebook in 2013. It's also worth noting that a handful of the accounts recently followed by Noto feature employees from a news startup called Mic.
New Jersey’s richest man plans to give billions back to investors (NYP)
Hedge fund titan David Tepper is having a tough year, but he’s still planning to return billions of dollars to his investors. Tepper, who is the richest person in New Jersey, may give $2 billion to $4 billion back to investors in his $20 billion Short Hills-based Appaloosa Management funds this year, a source close to the firm told The Post. The news was first reported by Institutional Investor’s Alpha. The givebacks are coming as Tepper’s Palomino hedge fund is down 2.3 percent for the year through October. It’s quite a comedown from last year, when Palomino gained 42 percent, making Tepper the highest-paid hedge fund manager in the world for the second year in a row. In 2013, the hedgie had a $3.5 billion payday, putting his net worth at $10 billion.
Citigroup ‘Idea Dinners’ Cited in Finra Fine Over Tips (Bloomberg)
At a July 2011 dinner for Citigroup Inc. (C) clients, a research analyst identified a stock to bet against. In his last research notes before that gathering, he upgraded the shares, advising investors to stick with them. The analyst was among several cited yesterday in an action by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which fined Citigroup $15 million. The employee offered similar tips at six subsequent “idea dinners” on stocks that he had rated as hold or neutral, Finra said.
Russians dumping rubles for... Rolls Royces? (CNBC)
Even as Rolls Royce hits speed bumps in China, the ultra-luxury carmaker is breaking new sales records in Russia as consumers look to diversify away from the beleaguered ruble. "With the weak ruble, people are investing into real assets," Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO of the BMW-owned British car brand told CNBC on Tuesday. "We've seen very good business this year; Russia is at new record levels."
A Thanksgiving Turkey for the .01 Percent (Bloomberg)
Unlike commercial turkeys, which are artificially inseminated, heritage turkeys are left to naturally mate with other heritage birds.
Girlfriend dumped with restraining order after a ‘girls weekend’ (NYP)
A Manhattan fashion consultant says she returned from a girls weekend in California to her boyfriend’s Hamptons mansion — only to be greeted by a process-server who slapped her with an order of protection. “I was 100 percent shocked,” a heartbroken Nicole Raef told The Post. “I was like, ‘I don’t understand, who breaks up with someone this way?’ ” Raef, 28, has been homeless ever since her boyfriend of five years abruptly threw her out of his $1.7 million Long Island summer home and his $6 million Manhattan town house. “Everything was fine when I left,” Raef said, adding that she had to pawn her diamond earrings to afford legal counsel. “We’d been arguing, but we’d worked things out,” the slender brunette said. But court papers filed by her boyfriend, hedge-fund-executive-turned-private-investor Brad Zipper tell a different story. Zipper, 50, former head of Zinc Capital Management, paints his decades-younger ex as an abusive, emotionally unstable stalker. In an application for a temporary restraining order, Zipper says he came home in December 2012 to find his oven on fire and Raef passed out in the guest room. “When she woke up, she was delirious and didn’t even remember driving and getting into an accident with my car that night,” the suit says...Raef’s attorney, Brett Kimmel, denied Zipper’s claims. “The allegations that are set forth in the pleadings are clearly embellished and to a large degree untrue,” he said. “This is a wealthy man breaking up with his girlfriend and doing it in a really untasteful way.”
ING Plans to Cut 1,700 Dutch Jobs After Repaying Bailout (Bloomberg)
ING Groep NV (INGA), the Dutch bank that repaid a bailout earlier this month, plans to cut 1,700 jobs to simplify and automate systems and processes in its home market. The bank will book a pretax redundancy provision of 320 million euros ($398 million) in the fourth quarter, ING said in a statement today. The firm, which has 53,000 staff, said the cuts will occur over the next three years and lead to annual gross savings of about 270 million euros from 2018.
Eurozone Stagnation Poses Major Risk to Global Growth, OECD Warns (WSJ)
In its economic outlook, the Paris-based organization singled out the eurozone as the black spot in an already gloomy picture of the global economy. Global growth will remain modest and unemployment above precrisis levels, with risks that financial volatility and weak confidence will make things even worse, the OECD said. “The eurozone is the locus of the weakness in the global economy,” OECD chief economist Catherine Mann said at a presentation in Paris.
Exclusive: U.S. prosecutors to interview London FX traders - sources (Reuters)
U.S. prosecutors will travel to London in the coming weeks to interview traders about currency market manipulation, the latest sign that authorities are closer to filing criminal charges stemming from the long-running probe, sources told Reuters. Officials from the U.S. Department of Justice will interview current or former employees at HSBC Holdings plc, (HSBA.L) among other banks, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The plans to interview traders from HSBC do not necessarily indicate that prosecutors will file criminal charges against the bank or its employees, sources said, noting it is common for prosecutors to speak to witnesses in any criminal investigation. HSBC declined to comment.
Energy Investor Bets on Aubrey McClendon’s Second Act (WSJ)
When Aubrey McClendon went looking for money to finance his comeback after leaving Chesapeake Energy Corp. , he cast a wide net, soliciting private-equity firms, sovereign-wealth funds, and even Russian oligarchs. John Raymond, the 44-year-old son of former Exxon Mobil Corp. chief Lee Raymond and head of his own investment firm, said yes. Over a late-summer dinner in New York City last year, Mr. Raymond agreed to back Mr. McClendon. So far Mr. Raymond’s Energy & Minerals Group, or EMG, has plowed about $3.2 billion into seven companies set up by Mr. McClendon, the Oklahoma wildcatter who over two decades built Chesapeake from a $50,000 startup to one of the country’s largest energy producers.
UMaine Fails Miserably At Attempt To Set Flannel-Wearing World Record (AP)
The University of Maine has fallen short in its quest to break the world record for having the most people in one place wearing flannel apparel. The university had called on football fans to don plaid or tartan-patterned clothing for Saturday's game against the University of New Hampshire. It even gave out 1,500 plaid bandanas to attendees. The school needed more than 1,090 people wearing two plaid-patterned items to attend the game to break the Guinness world record. Instead, only about 1,000 turned out.