 The Wild Wild World of Wealth |
Yesterday, Goldman Sachs settled fraud charges associated with Abacus CDOs for $550 million. Not surprisingly, the settlement excluded Fabrice P. Tourre, who will no doubt be hung out to dry as the Tourre de Toxic winds to a close.
Personally, I think the government just got pimp-slapped. Here are five reasons why:
Editors Note: Last weekend at Thrillerfest, I had the great pleasure to spend time with Peter James, best-selling author of the Roy Grace detective novels. We compared notes, police versus finance, and Peter described the market for human body parts.
Organs don’t trade on public exchanges. But neither do synthetic CDOs when you think about it. It’s a fascinating topic, and Peter agreed to share his research notes for Dead Tomorrow. His latest Roy Grace novel, Dead Like You, will release in the United States on November 23.
The news is out. US prosecutors are investigating several Morgan Stanley CDOs. Like the Abacus inquiry at Goldman Sachs, the issue is what representations Morgan Stanley made to clients. How did the bank market those Weapons of Money Destruction? Here’s what The Wall Street Journal reports:
Among the deals that have been scrutinized are two named after U.S. Presidents James Buchanan and Andrew Jackson, a person familiar with the matter said. Morgan Stanley helped design the deals and bet against them but didn’t market them to clients. Traders called them the “Dead Presidents” deals.
So without further ado, I’d like to play a little song for my friends from Morgan Stanley. I give you Little Walter and Dead Presidents:
© 2010 ACRIMONEY. All rights reserved.
Jimmy Cusack is the tough kid from a blue-collar neighborhood who made good on Wall Street. Well, almost. After a sterling start to his career, things have soured. His hedge fund has collapsed. The bank is foreclosing on his condominium. And his wife is three months pregnant. That’s the good news.
From Publisher's Weekly -
