This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
What Is The Rationale Behind The SEC's Hiring A 29 Year Old Goldmanite As Its COO?
While one may or may not have feelings about Goldman's tentacled capture of various regulatory agencies, the most recent news out of the SEC that it would be hiring a 29 year old former Goldman Vice President Adam Storch as its COO, questions the rationale behind this move. First, and not being ageist here, but a 29 year old to run what is arguably the most critical post at the SEC - that in charge of operations? Keeping up to date with market developments, the one area where the SEC has been an utter disaster (along with all other areas actually), is a core responsibility: at least the SEC could have hired someone with actual market/broker experience. Based on his record, Mr. Storch is not even a licensed (Series 7/63) broker: would it not be logical to hire someone who has at least had some market experience? Yet according to the SEC's Robert Khuzami, Storch is just the (very young and inexperienced) man for the job:
The COO, who started Oct. 13, has “a great deal of
background” in technology and managing processes and the pace
of work, Robert Khuzami, head of enforcement, said yesterday in
Washington. Storch, who worked since 2004 in a unit at Goldman
Sachs that reviewed contracts and transactions for signs of
fraud, will be charged with making the unit more efficient.
Storch, reached by telephone at the SEC, declined to comment.
We shall be following young master Storch's exploits closely. As for the timing of an ex-Goldman retention 5 days ahead of a critical hearing on dark pools, we can only surmise this is a total and completel conicidence.
- 13957 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -


On orders from Lord Lloyd...don't be so hard on this greenie, he has HFT experience!
Hummmm...In the commentary it is Mr. Storch and by the end it is Master Scotch.
I realize it is Friday, but could Tyler be hitting the latter a tad bit early?
WTF?
Here's what Mr. Storch thinks of that rag known as the Constitution and the amendments added:
http://www.businessinsider.com/check-out-sec-coo-adam-storchs-website-2009-10
From the looks of his website he doesn't look as tech savvy as the press release makes him to be.
Most effective way to mitigate dark pool and HFT restrictions. Essentially GS is becoming a monopolist in these areas. This mole cements the grip on market share.
Please just dissolve the SEC and let the buyer beware.
"what is the rationale?"
because they can get away with it. no other rationale needed.
Mary Shapiro sez he has all the qualifications: young, dumb, and very hung.
Is this a low budget porn movie?
No, it's a $1billion budget porn movie
I'd recommend Turbo Tax Timmy but he's already got a cush job. Dazzle them with brilliance and baffle them with bullshit, which brings out the core problem, nobody is being called on their BS.
Besides, Timmy is hung like a mouse, so Mary punted him like a football.
President Obama...
the situation has now moved to the dark comedy side of the ledger.
This doesn't even come close to passing the giggle test. Remove Mary Schapiro immediately. Thank you.
He has all the qualifications necessary for this fascist government.
Yet according to the SEC's Robert Khuzami, Storch is just the (very young and inexperienced) man for the job:
As is His Majesty Obama. I think I am beginning to see a pattern here.
guys sorry but it seems like everyone has forgotten the key role played in tarp and bailouts by a former young anonymous employee back at GS... NEEL KASHKARI!!!!!!!!!! things continue to spiral down. I am not American. But my god this starts to be really hard to stomach.
Thanks.
I thought I was the only person in the world who knew about this under-the-radar New World Order drone.
It's my spleen that aches.
This is the reason he took a 'low paying' government job.
http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abo3Zo0ifzJg
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms, according to financial disclosure forms.
The advisers include Gene Sperling, who last year took in $887,727 from Goldman Sachs and $158,000 for speeches mostly to financial companies, including the firm run by accused Ponzi scheme mastermind R. Allen Stanford. Another top aide, Lee Sachs, reported more than $3 million in salary and partnership income from Mariner Investment Group, a New York hedge fund.
As part of Geithner’s kitchen cabinet, Sperling and Sachs wield influence behind the scenes at the Treasury Department, where they help oversee the $700 billion banking rescue and craft executive pay rules and the revamp of financial regulations. Yet they haven’t faced the public scrutiny given to Senate-confirmed appointees, nor are they compelled to testify in Congress to defend or explain the Treasury’s policies.
I'll take the other side TD.
That's exactly where you want a 29-yo. Probably a razor sharp dude, and just getting into 30s, so not at a point where they are just comfortable and can do nothing for the rest of the term.
However, the Goldman connection completely shatters his reputation because we all know that once you get inside GS door, they give you a corruption injection and you're done...
I completely agree.
If dude is so razor sharp, why is he leaving just before GS is set to pay out record bonuses?
Because he's not leaving Goldman, he's just taking a leave of absence. With all that SEC experience Goldman will pay him a multi-million dollar signing bonus.
Naaah...that's where you'd want a certified fraud examiner with some serious forensic economics and forensic accounting experience, not the doods that perpetrated the fraud.
Naaah...that's where you'd want a certified fraud examiner with some serious forensic economics and forensic accounting experience, not the doods that perpetrated the fraud.
AMATEUR HOUR AT IT'S FINEST IN THIS ADMIN!
Well, Sarkozy'son (all of 23 year's old) is nominated for some big post in Paris.
As they say
"Aux âmes bien nées, la valeur n'attend point le nombre des années." Corneille
Didnt finish college but has a lifetime job...and a hot mom
I don't know of anyone of my associates who believed in the "Change I Can Believe In" ads. The proletariat believes the administration is different because of social policies, yet always fails to see where the money decisions are being made at Treasury (& post haste-Fed appointees). Treasury policy hasn't changed; yet, it will be very fascinating to see where things go after 2010 (Tax cuts expire). I really think that O's strategy has been to play defense, and if he can get through the 2010 mid-term elections with his party largely running things, he can crank things up for two years before the next election. Some may say healthcare is offense; however, I think he really knows how difficult it is, and a total fumble at the goalline if they don't get what they want.
Health Care Reform was meant to be a stealth tax increase, as a sop to the bond vigilantees. It is getting too much scrutiny now, so it will be a Medicare cost cut instead in the near term, the tax increase part will come later. If there is a later.
Yeah, but the dude gives really good head!
I am Chumbawamba.
bloomberg titled storch as head of enforcement, lloyd, paulson etc are all now home free. but i would'nt want to be in dimon, pandit, lewis, mack's shoes (or are they ex GS).
sadly i am buying more GS as it looks like they will be last man standing.
its interesting to see that tho it appeared russia lost the cold war their oligarchic system has now tamed the US. i expect the irony will be lost in the US.
am going to re- read The Gulag Archipelago, might as well get to know how the system works.
They aren't even trying to hide their disdain for the American public. What better way to say "Fuck you" than to try and advance this appointment?
rationale ?
Tyler dude, rationality is sooooooo 20th century ....
But yeah, basically they did it for shits and giggles, and to see how much can the sheeple handle before people start launching RPG grenades into the offices in down town Manhattan.
He reviewed contracts and transactions for signs of fraud the way an attorney reviews contracts and transactions for exploitable loopholes. His job is to "bend the curve" upwards on CDO securitization.
i would assume the 29 year old knows how to use facebook, myspace, aol, etc. computer savvy to operate in a knowledge based economy. plus why not burn through a young guy to blaze the trail.
Dear Adam, go get em!!
Storch was an intern at Neuberger Berman LLC of Chicago (hahaha).
Evidently, the CEO of NB during that time was Jeffrey B Lane who later worked for Lehman, was CEO of Bear Stearns, and is a board member at JP Morgan and Willis Group Holdings. Muckety, muckety muck.
I'll bet a nickel that it's a max two degrees of separation from this kid and Obama, or more likely his parents and Obama.
From businessinsider.com's comment:
John, this position may not be as important as you may think. This position is within the Enforcement group; granted, the largest group within the SEC, but it is not an agency-wide position. Storch will apparently be a direct report to Khuzami, who heads the Enforcement group (and who is a former public prosecutor, not an industry transplant), and he will be one of ten or so direct reports to Khuzami.
A position starting with a C- sounds important, but it's a bit of a misnomer; this isn't at the same level as other C-suite positions within private firms. The reality is that, below the Commissioner level, the Directors and Associate Directors hold the real power in the SEC, and I don't think he qualifies as even an Associate Director, despite the important-sounding position. I'm not sure this is the story you're looking for.
check your facts on Khuzami - he's totally an industry transplant
also note that Ms Shapiro made great fanfare about this COO position when she announced its creation back in June
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5514J320090602
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/06/02/afx6493963.html
Boy, it is good to see they took Harry M's testimony seriously about hiring seasoned professionals with gray hair or no hair.
Just Goldman letting the world know once again who is in charge.
This country makes me sick to my stomach.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/adamstorch
As a public official, it would be nice to know how well connected his extended family may be. To be hired as a VP at Goldman 2 1/2 years out of college as an accountant for the firm that reviews Goldman's books deserves a deeper look, right?
http://www.implu.com/search/storch
He's epic failguy.
Justsome newfag
THEY HAD TO LIST HIS INTERNSHIP AS PART OF HIS QUALIFICATIONS!!!
OMFG!!!!!!!!!
I AM ON MARS!!!
I thought the SEC was already a GS subsidiary?
Tyler, I cross-posted this at BusinessInsider, but this is probably not the story you're looking for. Storch was hired to a position that, despite the important-sounding title, is not the equivalent of a C-suite position in a corporation. He will be working under Khuzami, within the Enforcement group, and the position is basically for review of contracts, not directing enforcement actions. The real power at the SEC is with the Commissioners and the Directors; and not only is his position not as a Commissioner or a Director, I seriously doubt that he is even the equivalent of an Associate Director; I think it's an Assistant Director equivalent position at best, and there are any number of people at that level within the SEC.
Again, I don't think this is the story you're looking for.
Why do people make the comment that Obama's administration has all the inexperienced people?
Under the Bush admin...
Do you remember how FEMA was ran by a guy who sold horses for a living (to the obvious help of New Orleans?)
Do you remember how the justice department was run by a 30 year old girl that graduated from Pat Robertson's law school?
And what about old Bush himself? Can't say he ever succeeded at anything before he was president.
The comedy lies in the fact that our electorate was whipped up into foaming at the mouth, Bush hating frenzy by our media, and sent out to elect of full blown radical socialist to supposedly make things 'good again' in a capitalist democracy.
Obama has total disdain for about 80% of the country of which he was elected leader. The human folly here in the U.S. in 2009 is epic.
That's why after only 9 months, a huge percentage of Obama voters have that 'Oh, crap, what have I done?' expression every time the guy opens his mouth, and why a statistically very significant number of the obama voters openly say they wish they has their vote back.
The comedy lies in the fact that the electorate keeps electing inexperienced leaders. If that leader is a Dem, the Repubs moan and complain about how inexperienced the guy is, all the dumb mistakes he makes (like appointing inexperienced insiders), etc. They mock him for it. If that leader is a Repub, the Dems moan and complain about how inexperienced the guy is, all the dumb mistakes he makes (like appointing other inexperienced insiders), etc. They mock him for it. Then they turn around, elect some inexperienced bozo from their own party, act like that's going to make things better and keep their mouths shut when it doesn't.
That's the comedy. Or the tragedy.
Perp runner, Mars is in this universe and I think we worm holed to the Benjamin Button dimension and 29 is the new 59. HEHE, the ring of truth is in the satire.
From his youth this website that has since been taken down:
http://www.storchonline.com
In case that does get taken down.
http://web.archive.org/web/20040606040446/http://storchonline.com/party....
Ah, but nothing ever truly disappears from the internets.
Fun stuff:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.storchonline.com/
What's that word the Brits use when they're speechless? Is it "gobsmacked"?
Yes, that's it. I'm bloody gobsmacked.
I read shit like this and I think, this is the death of satire. There is just nothing any more that should faze any of us when it comes to the giant brass balls of TPTB. Nothing at all.
UNF*CKINGBELIEVABLE
meanwhile back at the ranch, amidst wild currency volatility and wild volatility in the blue chips, HAL9000 has the SPX under TOTAL CONTROL
but we know already from the Madoff example the answer to the question "if you provided proof of fraud and/or market manipulation to the SEC, would they do anything about it?"
no
not just no, but HELL NO
laughable man
I’ll tell you the "rationale behind the SEC's hiring" a young Goldmanite. Goldman can’t afford to allow an honest official to take charge of a critical office who would do a diligent job looking into or limiting its activities. And make no mistake: these appointments are made by Goldman with no interference from the Congress or the White House.
Goldman is becoming an unbearable yoke upon the back of the America people. Andrew Storch, with only the bearest essentials of accounting experience and youthful political activity in the Democrat Party is the perfect copy boy to carry out Goldman’s orders in the SEC.
“Here’s your chance, kid, do as you’re told and we’ll take care of you; guess you’ve seen the kind of money we can provide.”
The SEC has confirmed that it remains owned by criminals
What a spectacular overreaction to a hiring that puts the guy in charge of paper flow and cerain absolutely tiresome administrative details in the Division of Enforcement. "Mr. Storch will be responsible for project management and workflow for various infrastructure and operational aspects of the Division, including budget, information technology, and administrative services. In addition, he will oversee the workflow and process associated with the collection and distribution of Fair Funds to harmed investors." Don't be ridiculous!
PK - the guy is the COO of the enforcement division, you make him out to sound like an entry level clerk. He reports to another banker Robert Khuzami who heads the enforcement division. Seems quite a coincidence that that someone who needs to be skilled in work flow etc would be sourced from Goldman as opposed to say McKinsey or Bain.
He's not quite at clerk level, but he's not in a significant decision-making role either -- and won't participate at all in the making of material decisions about investigations or cases in the Division. Here's another person who reports to Khuzmi: his secretary.
Khuzami, of course, is a lawyer, not a banker. He clerked for the Eigth Circuit for a while and then was a prosecutor in the famed U.S. Attorney's Office for the SDNY for eleven. After that, he was GC for the Americas at Deutsch Bank, a lawyer's, not a banker's job, for five before going to the SEC. This new hire is not, after all, Deputy Director or even an Associate or Assistant Director.
When you see a shiny new title at the SEC, like Managing Executive, it is very likely that it doesn't mean much. The guy is going to fulfill an administrative role, doing administrative things and a few others of a minor nature for the Director (who otherwise would have to do most of them himself). Important staff have the traditional titles, which, at least at the Division level, convey real rank and a pecking order. Could he turn out to be Rasputin? Anything is possible, I suppose.
I guess the K man had nothing to do with the initial SEC BAC $33m "settlement"
http://www.scribd.com/doc/18060459/SEC-v-Bank-of-America-Complaint
I think this provides insight into why he was selected for the COO position:
Adam Storch circa July 2000 and some compensation issues he had with a company for which he sold magazine subscriptions:
http://www.gotapex.com/got-deals/4336-anyone-get-paid-from-myemag-com-ye...
Egads... one wonders what he is going to get PAYED by the SEC.
I mean "I knew they were giving out too damn much money!"
Which is totally like, why I had no problem when I "referred over 100 people at $10 a pop"
But "If I eventually get MY money, i will be very happy, even though i had to wait for a while, but i'm taking them to court if i don't."
So thayer! But donts worrys, cuz "I will keep you guys up to date."
Dude was a gold-digging scam artist back in college days.
http://www.gotapex.com/got-deals/5199-make-us-give-money-to-charity.html
Seems to have been into making a skim off of online gambling as well (if you "get the drift"):
http://www.gotapex.com/got-deals/6232-casino-on-net-question.html
Gotta love the Google:
http://www.google.com/search?q=adamstorch+site%3Agotapex.com
All that is important, essential, and mandatory is mostly hidden.
What you see and hear is not even a metaphor for the way the world actually works.
Call it conspiracy if you want, but the results speak for themselves: those elected and appointed in this admenstruation (and all others) are mere figureheads, a sop to the voters to keep the illusion, the fantasy of a republic alive for sentimental reasons and to rally the children to sign up to fight their wars. When the kids finally wise up, conscription will return and The men behind the curtain who only occasionally become visible, will trot out the propaganda (and the disasters) to assure compliance and not a rebellion.
The powers are global in the way they work, think, live and play. They wrote off the United States as a world power a long time ago, and relegated the 50 states to the status of just another subsidiary, an arm of the octpus that is the not-so-new world odor. Middle classes will gradually shrink, and the states will become more like Europe: old, run down, and shabby as thousands of towns already are.
The pluralty of the people, and there are at least 350,0000,000 of them don't know, don't want to know and wouldn't take the time to find out what is going on. And few who do won't amount to a heck of a lot more than those who are aware, enlightened, and furious at their impotence to change things.
It doesn't matter who is appointed to what. All we can do is criticize, complain, and wail and moan about the irrationality of it all. But it is not irrational from the perspective of the gods on Mt. Olympus.
How can you be shocked by appointment to the dead-end SEC?
That any 29 year old could possibly ascend on merit alone to become a Goldman Vice President is what should be shocking.
I accept that Kobe could play in the NBA at age 18, but VP at ? (he's 29 now) in such a long standing institution?
This kid will inevitably try and make a name for himself and quick. His high school buddies flaunted their fast stock wealth in front of his face, he didn't get the prom queen and now he's out for revenge.
GS stooge or not, he will inflict damage on the markets.
SEC has changed and is trying to prove itself to the American investor and the world that Wall Street is no longer the Wild West and casino mentality belongs to Atlantic City, not on the stock markets.
US markets have become dull and boring. The action is moving elsewhere. Last week they sold a condo in Hongkong for 57 million bucks. Yup, you heard that right. Big money has moved out of NYC.
SEC can be the cleanup crew of what little action that's left in the US markets.
One of the conditions of his contract at GS is, when he works for SEC, the G Sucks keeps him on the bonus bills and pays the difference in pay between GS and SEC.
nice job if you can get it.
jesus h. christ with a stick. I feel nauseous. If this isn't a giant slap in the face to the American people I dont know what is.
THE GUY ISN'T EVEN A LICENSED BROKER. ARE YOU S#!%ING ME??
I am a LICENSED little real estate appraiser and I cant even get crappy AMC work because I dont have the necessary level of license. I need to upgrade my license from Residential to "Certified Residential" so I can make $225 per lousy freakin appraisal.
THAT MEANS REAL ESTATE APPRAISALS ARE MORE REGULATED THAN THE GODDAMN SEC!!!???!
THIS IS A JOKE RIGHT? I FEEL SICK.
current headline at HuffPo
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
LMAO. Just one more step to a real Revolution in this country.
Can't wait. Hope J6P has the balls for it.
If there wasn't a labor shortage, the SEC wouldn't need to hire an inexperienced 29 year old. I hear the next appointment will be filled by an H1B Goldmanite shipping in form Bejing. (Snark).
Isn't he at the age where all he really want to do is nail heaps of chicks?
Brokers have no experience. Traders know about markets, brokers just fill orders. How do you not know that?
It's all about server colocation, people.