Insider trading is “rampant and routine and this criminal behaviour was known, encouraged and exploited by authority figures in several investment funds.”
So sayeth the US attorney for Manhattan. More on the FBI’s Operation Perfect Hedge can be found here in this FT article. And this one.
I have an investor who is concerned this particular era on Wall Street has become just like the 90′s in professional baseball. He believes both major league ball back then and the current scene on Wall Street resemble social experiments that began with the question, “What sort of behavior would you be willing to engage in if we threw tens of millions of dollars at you?”
In baseball, the answer seemed to be, “I will repeatedly inject myself in the butt with copious amounts of steroids.”
On Wall Street, the answer seems to be stuff like this.
Hard not to agree with him.
Posted by Cale at 11:34 AM in For Investors
1. NYRB reviews the best book of 2011.
2. Yes, let’s be honest about private equity.
3. Are you Google’s customer, or its product?
4. Instant classic: a parody of our nation’s finances.
5. The more ya know, the less ya understand.
7. The best letter to a lawyer, ever.
Posted by Cale at 5:54 AM in Commentary
Apologies for the delay between posts lately. Been working on some new names in the portfolio and attempting to get in some quality family time.
New puppy at home, too. Been a blast – although I had quite the battle with my two young daughters when it came to choosing a name for him. After exhausting all other options, I was able to eventually, for a small sum, buy the naming rights to him. It was a desperate move – but I was outnumbered and out of options. There was just no way I could let him be named “Rainbow Princess.”
So, here’s Murphy. Don’t let the picture fool you, though. He may look like a black lab, but turns out he’s really a fur-coated flip-flop destruction machine.
In any case, I will get my next investor letter out in another week or so (you can sign up here), and back to the blog after that.
In the meantime, a belated happy holidays to all.
Posted by Cale at 12:55 PM in The Good Life
