Visium Informant Worked Hard For The Money

Jason Thorell wasn't just some layabout government witness.

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Updated:: Jan 14, 2019
Original:: Aug 30, 2016

Not Thorell but could've been. (Getty Images)

There are two types of people in life: the ones who, when confronted with the opportunity to wear a wire and record their colleagues incriminating themselves in order to help the government build a case, do the bare minimum. Maybe they accidentally leave their wires on the kitchen table on more than a few occasions. Other times they forget to hit play and record at the same time. And in general, they make an effort to catch their co-workers saying damning things only when it's convenient for them. Then you have the people who treat the gig like they're auditioning for a high level position in the NSA. Jason Thorell fell into the latter category.

A former trader-turned-informant secretly recorded more than 125 conversations with former colleagues for hedge fund firm Visium Asset Management LP and others spanning more than 200 hours, according to a court filing. The informant, previously identified by Bloomberg News as junior trader Jason Thorell, spent more than two years cooperating with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and FBI. He stands to receive a payout under the SEC’s whistle-blower program. The court filing identifies him only as "CC-1."

Visium Hedge Fund Informant Recorded 125-Plus Conversations [Bloomberg]

If it's from Visium, it's kindling now. Getty Images.

Sorry, job-seekers!

This thing? Oh, pay no mind. By 東照大権現 (Own work) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Visium Asset Management learned this one the hard way.

By United States Department of Justice (http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/meetattorney.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

He said/he said.

Not a Visium employee but could be. (Getty)

Visium Asset Management is preparing to say some tough good-byes.

Remember David Slaine? For those who need a refresher, he is the former Morgan Stanley managing director and ex-Galleon trader who began working as an FBI informant in 2007 and who was outed for doing so by the Wall Street Journal in January 2010. At the time, we learned a few notable things about Slaine, some of them germane to his role in helping the government go after people trading on material non-public information, others special in their own way, like: 1. He takes french fries, and perhaps all snacks, very seriously. In 1993, Slaine triggered a fist-fight with a colleague on the trading floor after needling him because he wouldn’t share his french fries. Others broke up the fight. 2. He doesn't wait for people to towel off and get dressed before knocking their teeth out. One morning early in 2001, before trading began, Gary Rosenbach, then was the No. 2 executive under Mr. Rajaratnam, and Slaine were in a steam room together after exercising at an Equinox Fitness Club. Mr. Rosenbach was pressuring Mr. Slaine to improve his performance. As Mr. Rosenbach lay on his back on a bench, Mr. Slaine punched him, giving him a black eye and ending their friendship. 3. Humans aren't the only ones often asked "you want a piece of me?" He once smashed a computer keyboard in a fit of rage, says a person familiar with the incident. 4. While working on Wall Street, he eschewed the traditional channels of employee recruitment (Wharton, etc), preferring instead to pick up fresh analysts at the club. While at Morgan Stanley, he met [Craig] Drimal, then a nightclub bouncer at the Vertical Club in Manhattan. The two quickly formed a friendship based on a shared passion for weight lifting and their mutual ability to bench-press 400 pounds...Shortly after arriving at Galleon, Mr. Slaine persuaded Galleon officials to give a position to Mr. Drimal, who then was working as a bouncer at the Roxy nightclub in Manhattan. 5. Being a person with whom he "formed a friendship based on a shared passion for weight lifting and [a] mutual ability to bench-press 400 pounds," possibly the greatest line written about anyone who's ever worked on Wall Street and which which cannot be said enough, means little in the long run if he knows you've been playing it fast and loose with securites laws. In July 2007, the FBI showed up at Mr. Slaine's door on W. 57th Street in Manhattan and confronted him. Mr. Slaine agreed to help the government. At the time, federal prosecutors in Manhattan were trying to make headway on another investigation that eventually led to the charges involving Galleon. They asked Mr. Slaine who he knew that might be participating in insider trading. Mr. Slaine's answer: his friend Mr. Drimal, according to people familiar with the matter. In September 2007, Mr. Slaine—identified in the complaint as CS-1—tried out his body wire for the first time, meeting Mr. Drimal in New York. During the meeting, Mr. Drimal gave Mr. Slaine a piece of paper with four stock symbols, according to the complaint. He told Mr. Slaine the four companies were all acquisition targets. At the meeting's end, Mr. Drimal told Mr. Slaine to destroy the list. He warned him to "be careful" in trading the securities because no news of the takeovers had surfaced publicly...After the meeting, Mr. Slaine went to a nearby hotel where an FBI agent was waiting, says a person familiar with the matter. The pair went to a room where Mr. Slaine removed the wire. Anyway, Bloomberg recently checked in to see what Slaine's been up to these last couple years and other than his "multi-year experience" with the FBI being "tremendously traumatic," he seems to be doing pretty well.

On the one hand, Roomey Khan's assistance as a cooperating witness was "extremely substantial." On the other, she seems to have told between 1 and 100 lies to government officials.