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BBC Releases Official Statement On Alessio "The Trader" Rastani: He Is Perfectly Legit And The Interview Was Not A Hoax
Zero Hedge's post yesterday of a trader telling the BBC how he (and everyone else) really feels about the current cataclysmic situation, went viral, and as of this writing, was about to generate 100,000 hits (legit ones: no slideshows were massacred in the creation of a some CPM abortion). Needless to say, the trader in question, Alessio Rastani, very suddenly and violently entered the public's eye, the most amusing side effect of which was the emergence a fringe group claiming that just because he looks like some other guy, that he is a spoof, and this was immediately used by the conventional media to attempt to discredit him. And as usually happens, this has backfired. The BBC has just released a statement confirming that Rastani is, indeed, a trader, and that all those (Forbes) who have nothing better to do than to attack the messenger and not the message, may be better advised to taking a Math 101 class and realizing why we are all scroomed, instead of polishing their character assassination skills. To everyone else who attempted to marginalize Rastani, "suck it" is not exactly what we would like to say, but it sure does the job. And to that we would like to add that just because Larry Summers is a spitting image of Jabba the Hut, that does not make him an automatic member of the "Tattoine Men" comedy troupe.
Full BBC Statement:
Statement on BBC News channel interview with trader Alessio Rastani
Date: 27.09.2011
The BBC have today issued the following statement regarding an interview with trader Alessio Rastani on the BBC News channel yesterday (Monday 26 September):
"We've carried out detailed investigations and can't find any evidence to suggest that the interview with Alessio Rastani was a hoax. He is an independent market trader and one of a range of voices we've had on air to talk about the recession."
BBC Press Office
And Statement from the Yes Men:
The Yes Men wish to commend Mr. "Alessio Rastani" for his masterful performance as "trader" on BBC World yesterday. Mr. Rastani's real name is Granwyth Hulatberi; he once appeared on CNBC MarketWrap as a "representative" of the WTO. Well done, Granwyth! You're getting better and better.
Just kidding. We've never heard of Rastani. Despite widespread speculation, he isn't a Yes Man. He's a real trader who is, for one reason or another, being more honest than usual. Who in big banking doesn't
bet against the interests of the poor and find themselves massively
recompensed—if not by the market, then by humongous taxpayer bailouts?
Rastani's approach has been completely mainstream for several years now;
we must thank him for putting a human face on it yesterday.
If you'd like to see the human face of the human perspective—the perspective of the 99% victimized by our demented and out-of-control financial system—come join the occupation of Wall Street. Michael Moore did so last night,
and pointed out that in America, it's just 400 people who own as much
as most of the rest of us put together—and that when we decide we really
want to change the rules of the game, those 400 people won't be able to
do squat about it.
»
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Just another wolf in sheepskin clothes.
All of em say,"treasuries and bonds", and then say, "what happened to your silver, man".
I thank them for even noticing and remind them that when they cannot tell up from down due to margin manipulations ect and the price breaks thirty dollars, dive on with both hands and hide it (golds just as sweet). They plan to sheer everyone, even the disguised wolves. Physical...
Fallascio is his new name. Utter a few truths, sprinkle them with such astounding suggestions as buy treasuries and the dollar...and the next thing you know everybody wants to do a rimjob on you.
That piece of dung turning his head away from the most historically relevant 'save your ass' play speak droves of his need for a good cunt slap.
Sweet Mother Of Jesus 100,000 reads! What is the record here at ZH?
BTW, nice detour to poke a stick in Larry Summers' eye. So juvenile... so brilliant.
I do not think bonds have done "stupidly" lately? Just because he is in bonds now does not mean he is going to stay there. I never had doubt of his legitimacy oh ye of little faith and perception.
Poe's Law: "without a clear indication of the author's intent, it is difficult or impossible to tell the difference between sincere extremism and an exaggerated parody of extremism."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law
Who cares about this guy? Not sure what's newsworthy with what he said. We've all been talking about this stuff for months and years.
If some random guy goes on TV and says "The sky is blue", do people go nuts and call it a hoax generally? I don't get the agitation the blog world is showing over this guy.
didn't anyone check out the guys site???? he read off his own page, great marketing for himself.
i think the guy is an absolute pm's bull but towed the line ..Very honest in many ways but not completely. Like Hugh Hendry gives a pitch to the public that smells of fresh air and an honest take .. The Gold sell will go to the private paying clients...
If the guy would have said short SLV when it approaches JPM... Now that would have been something!!! No!
The stock market is like Scientology. You give them money and they claim tey are giving something to you in return.A few people are smart enough to navigate up a few levels by making the right friends. Some make it to the level where you find out it is all just a con to take people's money and your money has all been wasted. However, becuase they have already evaluated your personality profile they know when they tell you that by joining you'll actually take in 50 times the money you lost, you'll join no questions asked. The only rul is never to tell what really goes on. If you do all your friends will be gone and you'll be branded as a crazy person.
That is this guy.
If this is true, I give 1776 up for old Alessio, or is it Andy?
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/09/27/alessio-rastani-hoax-on-bbc_n...
What a coup? This is far ahead of Hank Paulsen and his 3-page memo take down of $700 billion.
i have been dreaming about depression for 3 years mo fo............and now we are so close. shut up and leave me alone. i want to make some cash now......thank you every much...
i have been dreaming about depression for 3 years mo fo............and now we are so close. shut up and leave me alone. i want to make some cash now......thank you every much...
BULLSHIT! This is how MSM is filling the TV. Once a guy tells the truth they can't acknowledge that they missed out.
MSM is BULLSHIT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9MGOckIzlU&NR=1
Another nonsense.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywLt1AebjMY&feature=related
Yeesh...I just googled "Rastani" and was greeted with this article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8792829/BBC-financial-expert-Alessio-Rastani-Im-an-attention-seeker-not-a-trader.html
"How a man who has never been authorised by the Financial Services Authority and has no discernible history working for a City institution ended up being interviewed by the BBC remains a mystery. ... "They approached me," he told The Telegraph. "I'm an attention seeker. That is the main reason I speak. That is the reason I agreed to go on the BBC. Trading is a like a hobby. It is not a business. I am a talker. I talk a lot. I love the whole idea of public speaking." "
The interview may have been real, but this guy is not what one would call a well established trader. I have an etrade account too, am I a trader that should be getting interviews on BBC? Let's keep it real hmkay.
i know i know.....was a little let down to read the first lines off the site...exactly what he was saying. Something was not right...he's well dressed, calm, not afraid of the camera and well rehearsed. Surely there must be a few rich guys who like to trade and have offices in the most eye-wateringly-expensive city in the world...surely. Then I scrolled down through the site and saw Rich Dad Poor Dad...'I made a bunch of money in real estate but can't come up with one fucking statement to that effect bla bla bla' That was it for me. Guy gets on BBC, big deal. This is the world we live in, if there is a 3 min lag in something happening everyone wigs out, BBC looks great for being all edgy but either they have no other sources or don't take the House is On Fire situtation very seriously.
uhhmm...the name is Fallascio
fallacious words and self-performed fellacio
This from The Telegraph:
How a man who has never been authorised by the Financial Services Authority and has no discernible history working for a City institution ended up being interviewed by the BBC remains a mystery.
The incongruity led to some commentators speculating Mr Rastani was a professional hoaxer. The BBC denied the allegation: "We've carried out detailed investigations and can't find any evidence to suggest that the interview with Alessio Rastani was a hoax."
However, the BBC declined to comment on what checks, if any, it had done prior to the interview.
Mr Rastani was a little more forthcoming.
"They approached me," he told The Telegraph. "I'm an attention seeker. That is the main reason I speak. That is the reason I agreed to go on the BBC. Trading is a like a hobby. It is not a business. I am a talker. I talk a lot. I love the whole idea of public speaking."
So he's more of a talker than a trader. A man who doesn't own the house he lives in, but can sum up the financial crisis in just three minutes – a knack that escapes many financial commentators.
"I agreed to go on because I'm attention seeker," he said on Tuesday. "But I meant every word I said."
Well I'll be damned, it's amazing and unbelievable when someone speaks the truth. I guess we are living in a new age of fear and repression where that isn't the norm.
What amazes me is that any pundit in the MSM, politician, or investor would find Alessio "The Trader" Rastani shocking. Have they ever been near a Wall Street trading or brokerage desk? I think this guy is an excellent example of what most of Wall Street is all about. If anything he seems a bit tame, but, he was probably trying his best to behave for the public. At an institutional brokerage house in the World Trade Center where I worked back in the late 1990’s all trading favors (and there were many) went to the clients who paid the most commissions. We also averaged about one fist fight per quarter between brokers on the floor, usually over a stolen trade or faded quote.
Re We also averaged about one fist fight per quarter between brokers on the floor, usually over a stolen trade or faded quote.
Ive seen those punks trying to fight - oustside of Moran's by the marina there - what a buncha pussies!!! Couldnt throw a punch to save their lives - all telegraphed haymakers ! Never laughed so hard in my life!
Any time I had a problem with those traders, I just used to stare at 'em Dirty Harry style - and they went cryin' to Mommy, coz they knew they'd get their asses kicked - takin out 3 or 4 would ne NO problem! Buncha flamin phaggots! LOL!!!
When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic.-- Dresden James
totally agree, timely quote.
He's a trader, he understands the concept of Dharma. Since he's independent, he doesn't have anything invested in the game being played, and just tells it like it is. He is saying precisely what the rest of us here has been saying for the longest time. What caused that collective sharp intake of breath was he actually said what we already knew, the money men calls the shots, not the politicians.
There was a a smart trader Rastani
Who insisted on wearing Armani,
'Til the whistle he blewed
That we are all screwed
Now his outfit is prison pajami.
The BBC statement itself is rather strange. If you know anything at all about 'Auntie Beeb', she wouldn't say (I paraphrase here) that 'after exhaustive investigations, we cannot find any evidence that the interview with Alessio Rastani is a hoax.' They would simply have states that they had checked independently and had established conclusively that he is who he says he is - or words to that effect.
If TD is reading this, I would contact the BBC if I were you to find out what they meant. One interpretation of the statement is that they are defending their own staff from the accusation of setting up a hoax. You see where I'm going with this? The statement itself is impossibly ambiguous and its subtext suggests it was an inside job (organised within the BBC, I mean). Either ER was in on it or he is a truth-telling patsy.
You choose which it is.
Forbes; "..The hubbub is just starting to pick up after NZZ Online’s report yesterday on a University of St. Gallen study that shows stock market traders display similarities to certified psychopaths. The study, authored by MBA students Pascal Scherrer and Thomas Noll, compares decisions made by 27 equity, derivative and forex traders in a computer simulation against an existing study of 24 psychopaths in high-security hospitals in Germany. Not only do the traders match their counterparts, but, as Der Speigel succinctly puts it, the “stockbrokers’ behavior is more reckless and manipulative than that of psychopaths...”
Be interesting to see what term Forbes would use to describe mortgage brokers who let folks fill in their own income statements, which helped nearly collapse the economy, which created wild swings in the markets, which allowed indepedent traders to make a buck.
Psychopath, my ass....
Larry Summers famously rejected the idea of regulating the banking industry when bankers were packaging and selling the toxic waste investments, created by the greedy mortgage lenders who were fighting over the next commission, caring less if they were lending money that would never be paid back. The same Larry Summers Obama hired to lead the charge out of this economic quagmire...
Psychopath, my ass....
FTB
Attention seeker?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8792829/BBC-financial-expert-Alessio-Rastani-Im-an-attention-seeker-not-a-trader.html
"suck it"
More MSM attention
http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/goldman-sachs-rules-the-wo...
Fuck Forbes
The Telegraph is saying this was a hoax http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8792829/BBC-financial-exper...
Five Star! When does Barry award Alessio the Medal of Honor....or should I say, the Purple Heart...
I watched the video and read the Forbes and Telegraph stories and I wouldn't be surprised if he was a regular Zerohedge reader.
He says he does not work for a financial firm, he trades from home, and among other things, he trades the Dow because the S&P is too expensive.
In other words, he could be any small time trader.
The question is how did he wangle his way onto the BBC?
He also says he is a publiciy seeker who likes to shoot his mouth off. So, somehow he gate crashed the Beeb and got to mingle with the likes of Hugh Hendry and Jim Rogers, metaphorically speaking.
So far as I can see that's all there is to it. Except if he plays the publicity right we may see more of him.
Well, hoax, attention seeker or for real, I forwarded the video to friends and acquaintances. Most of them, while being fed up by the ongoing shenanigans, still have the MSM-sleep in their eyes - and this guy's word are like a bucket of ice water, apt to wake them up for good and make them recognize the gut feeling they refused to acknowledge was correct all along. Even Forrest Gump could understand what he explains about the true nature of the financial markets.
On a second thought, if this guy really has iranian roots, he could actually have done this whole thing intentionally to awaken people via use of the old Sufi technique of tearing apart the veil by slipping something completely unusual into an otherwise completely normal situation.
ALL OF THE COCKSUCKERS IN THE MAINSTREAM FINANCIAL MEDIA ARE LIARS!!!!!! Why the fuck is this site so popular? Would we be here if we got the truth from the idiot box?? It's a lot easier to listen than to read, and most of us are lazy. But we have to come to ZH to get a semblance of the fucking truth!!!
This guy is not a trader. He claimed to be one (lie). He now says it is just a hobby. What a disgrace they put this clown on t.v. I'm guessing his only qualifications are that he read "Reminiscenses of a Stock Operator" a few times.
I'm not saying his opinion is wrong, I happen to share it, but to act like he is an authority and claim he is a trader is nothing short of dishonest.
http://www.businessinsider.com/bbc-trader-alessio-rastani-2011-9
So where is the official press-release from Goldman-Sucks PR-department denying those accusations made by Alessio Rastani ?
So where is the official press-release from Goldman-Sucks PR-department denying those accusations made by Alessio Rastani ?
What an arrshole. And the market followed with a 5% gain. Yea, the smart money bought when that ass told everyone they were selling. Fuck you and the idiots for letting him on there. He was dreaming of a recession. Cut the shit. Did someone pay him to spout that shit... no he is honestly an asshole.
Look Mommy, Daddy is on TV again ... and he is an asshole !
That's my boy, an American asshole. Son, I'm proud of you even though you are an asshole.
This guy's claim to fame is that he made such a statement while wearing a suit and tie, not a bow-tie and not sporting a ponytail.
He is not a "player"; he's just some small time home trader trying to market himself. Obviously he is not so bad at that, as with a rather weak cv he got himself a three minute gig on BBC. I guess Bob Doll and Jesper Koll were too busy, or it was off hours NY and Tokyo time.
If Rastani is clever, he might be able to parlay his 15 minutes into guest slots on Max Keiser and Alex Jones, and maybe sell a few of his trading systems to the viewership.
As I wrote yesterday, this guy is in no danger. He can stencil his name on the back of his suits (by the way, he would have carried a lot more weight if his tie matched and his suit/shirt combo was Brioni/Stefano Ricci), and go about his day in perfect safety.
He isn't Michael Lewis, nor is he Nomi Prins. He's Snooki for the finance set.
Clock is ticking Alessio, grab the fame while you can.
hahah
we are all ANTI CAPITALIST APPARENTLY
yeah anticapaplaitist when we don't like the thought of RIGGED markets
read this tosh from Yahoo
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/bbc-victim-hoax-no-yes-men-154724196...
madhouse
what are you jabbering on about
he said he wanted to help people
he was being honest
would you ratehr live in fantasy land and have people lie?
everyone knows goldmans sachs runs the world and everyone knows this is all going to end in disaster
the only thing he was wrong about was US treasuries being safe
The guy is a nobody. Lives in a south London dump and doesn't trade.
You've been Rastani'd!
Fole
who cares whbo he is , he said he as an attention seeker but he meant every word and he was 100 percent correct in everything he said
http://www.facebook.com/alessiorastani
Gotta love how quickly people become fans of a broke nobody who doesn't trade and talks about the financial world! Speaks volumes about human nature.
no it speaks volumes in that you have to be rich in order for people like you to respoect what they have to say. He is a nobody in whos eyes?
you sound lkike you mthink Blankfein is not a nobody when in fact he is pure scum. The meek shall inherit the earth. This guy just speaks the truth , do not judge him by how much m oney he has
You've been Rastani'd.
no you have been goldman'ed
tell me Foie what he said that WASNT true?
You would rather belive Liesman or Cramer i guess
you know go buy some Bank Of America stock
its a good buy
whjats evenm more ama=zing is that the market has been Geitnered applarently believing his hair brained Euro leveraged rescue can work
they are the fools not Rastani.
anyone getting long this market absent QE is a grade AAAA moron
Besides who wants to support the system by being LONG
does this look like he is wrong?
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ACA.PA
Again on Mr Rastani 'credentials'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8792829/BBC-financial-expert-Alessio-Rastani-Im-an-attention-seeker-not-a-trader.html
Mr Rastani works and lives with his partner Anita Eader in a £200,000 semi in Bexleyheath, south London. The house, complete with a mortgage from Royal Bank of Scotland, belongs to her not him.
He is a business owner, a 99pc shareholder in public speaking venture Santoro Projects. Its most recent accounts show cash in the bank of £985. After four years trading net assets are £10,048 - in the red
Trading is a like a hobby. It is not a business. I am a talker. I talk a lot. I love the whole idea of public speaking."
QED
his blog here
seems legit to me
http://www.leadingtrader.com/
Trust me. I know how Allessio Rastani feels... He feels good. Telling the truth and embarrassing liars always feels good. Especially when one understands how much bold truth telling from someone who knows rattles TPTB. -- Michael C. Ruppert
http://www.collapsenet.com/154.html
Thanks for the link.