This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Jefferies Latest Casualty In Insider Trading Ring
As more and more tentacles of the insider trading octopus get exposed, thanks to an SEC seeking to make up for decades if not centuries of miserable inactivity, many more firms are sure to feel the wrath of the Feds. The latest one is Jefferies, whose former money manager for its Paragon Fund Joseph Contorinis is the most recent person snagged in the insider trader scandal, after he was indicted earlier by a grand jury for orchestrating a $7.2 million insider trading ring.
From Bloomberg:
The indictment by the Manhattan grand jury follows
Contorinis’s February arrest. Another person charged with him,
Nicos Stephanou, who was an associate director of mergers and
acquisitions at UBS’s London office, pleaded guilty in May to
charges that he passed information about bids for Albertson’s
Inc., ElkCorp and National Health Investors Inc.Charges against a third defendant, Ramesh Chakrapani, a
managing director of Blackstone Group LP’s takeover advisory
unit, was dismissed in April, according to court records.
Yet investment banks are likely not to suffer too severly as the SEC is happy to just let them off with a mere warning and a monetary penalty. Of course, for hedge funds it is a different story. And that's where the ongoing investigation seems to be focusing: now that many of the peripheral firms have been implicated, the question is how far with their squeals of cooperation lead prosecutors. According to speculation, several $10 billion+ funds are currently in the regulators' cross hairs. It will be very interesting to see how Goldman will be trading with just other banks when all of its core PD clients end up shutting down. Then again all a PM needs is a wifi connection and a Bloomberg terminal to feed the monkey: look for free wifi development opportunities for all minimum security prisons in the next Stimulus bill.
»
- 2416 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
How did Goldman's traders manage to slip through the cracks again? I am pretty sure it would be safe to take all of them down as well
Just a way to move the focus from the real criminals. Why rah rah this?
Letting us know that the SEC is still there to protect the American public while the true players steal what they can.
Welcome to fascist, corrupt America.
While I share the sentiment that they aren't
going after the big fish - they DO need to
get back into practice. They haven't been
enforcing or investigating for so long and
I'm sure they are all new H1B people. Lets
let them get some practice taking down these
nickle and dime million dollar rings. Once
the SEC's bench is full of battle hardened
players then go take down a big fish. It
won't do any good for noobs to try to take
down a squid.
Well, the only problem is - the squid itself is ordering the takedown jobs!
Hedge Fund Traders = Force of EVIL
Goldman Traders = Force of GOOD (becuase they have integrity and all that stuff).
Hedge fund traders levearge on central banks. Goldman is a central bank. Hedge funds are manipulated by goldman and the other central banks.
If you leverage on bank money it's voter fraud. 1 dollar 1 vote.
its only a matter of time before Buffett becomes a casualty
These are all petty larceny crimes by former rogue employees. As a result of our thorough internal investigation, these perps were identified and dismissed. Justice will be meted out and safeguards have already been put in place to prevent such abuses from ever happening again.
Insider trading is as old as prostitution. Both, to a degree, have always been used as a tool on Wall Street. Governments have all been trying to stop the drug cartels too. They prosecute (or kill) a few bad ones, send out news releases (in the old days they hang you in the center of town), then everyone goes back to business as usual (i.e. kickbacks, bribes, lobbying). Tactics change over time, history of ill deeds and acts do not.
Here's another example. Years ago (in the mid 80's to early 90's) we used an old time, large floor broker, who also cleared some of Paul Tudor-Jones' trades (well, actually a lot, Paul won't like this, but the statutes have all expired). But, regularily throughout the day, Paul would call him up, twist his arm, and extract from him, where all his stops were for the firm. Later in the day, Paul would either frontrun, or take out, those stops. Legal? Well, which part, right... Anyway, by the mid to late 90's, the industry created "electronic trading" (you know, for the benefit of the average guy / speed, spreads, access, etc.). By 2000, through new technology (tactics), ALL of these firms now had the ability to see (on their platforms) where the market's stops and positions were. Thus, what do think now happens? Nothing is private. Nothing is sacred. And, there is still no ethics or honor when it comes to greed and money. Just ask President Obama and this Administration. Tactics change, history of greed and ill acts do not (it's universal).
Do you blog?
Which is why I almost always use a mental stop.
of course the guy from the fed that sits on GS board and bought 50k shares after learning they would be paid 100% on AIG is scott free...
what a country...
If they take the effort to look closely enough, they'll find that ENTIRE Wall Street is one giant insider trading ring.
Gordon, read our post above. BTW, we hear you're staring in another movie coming out soon. Tell us all... do we short, or frontrun, the stops in the dollar in the sequel? Inquiring minds want to know. Be well...
Good post AR. That anecdote about Paul - very interesting, to say the least. As far as the movie is concerned, I guess you'll have to watch it to find out!