On Wall Street, Membership Has Its Privileges - Just Ask Deutsche Bank -05/17/10 at 9:37 AM CDTby Judd Bagley

One of the great episodes of The Simpsons follows Homer as he comes to realize that not all Springfield citizens are treated equally. The difference, Homer eventually discovers, is membership in a secret society known as the Stonecutters. Once on the inside, Homer is delighted to find his new affiliation subjects him to an enviable set of alternate rules....

John Paulson's "Greatest Trade Ever" - Something of a Scam -01/20/10 at 10:34 PM CSTby Mark Mitchell

By now, everybody knows that the market for collateralized debt obligations was riddled with fraud in the lead-up to the financial crisis. What is less known is the fact that hedge fund managers helped create and inflate the market for these toxic securities specifically so that they could bet against them and profit from the inevitable collapse. An examp...

SEC OIG Investigating SEC Complicity in Naked Short Selling of Dendre... -12/01/09 at 6:35 PM CSTby Mark Mitchell

The Office of the Inspector General of the Securities and Exchange Commission not long ago submitted a semi-annual report to Congress. There are two items in the report of interest to those of us who have argued that the SEC has turned a blind eye towards, or even assisted, unscrupulous hedge funds that make their fortunes destroying public companies for ...

Goldman Pillages, Goldman Steals, Goldman Sachs -08/19/09 at 11:07 AM CDTby Judd Bagley

Consider below a simple timeline from one of the strangest periods our financial markets had ever experienced. As you read it, keep in mind that following the demise of Bear Stearns, the strictest interpretation of the so-called investment bank “Bulge Bracket” included just four entities: Goldman Sachs (GS), Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and ...

SEC Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami Jokes About Causing The Marke... -08/09/09 at 12:11 PM CDTby Perry Rod

In a speech for the New York State Bar, Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami made a joke that for some might be more telling that it is funny.  He stated: "I'm pretty proud of my own 100-day accomplishments. So how have things changed? Before I joined the Division in March, the Dow was struggling around 6500 points....

Short Selling Implicated in the Greatest Market Cataclysm Since 1929 -11/25/08 at 10:21 PM CSTby Perry Rod

Investigative Reporter Mark Mitchell responded today to a Wall Street Journal article uncovering the fact that short selling played a major role in the current global crisis: Journalists who write about short selling hedge funds fall into three categories. The first category is comprised of a very small number of journalists who have deliberately whitewas...

Naked Short Sellers Attack Citigroup -11/21/08 at 7:22 PM CSTby Reggie Abaca

America's financial system is a mess and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to blame. Short sellers, in a concerted effort to defend themselves and abuse the lack of regulation by the SEC, are now targeting Citigroup (C) while our financial journalists, analysts and government regulators continue to do nothing. At Market Rap we've pointed out...

Mark Cuban Charged With Insider Trading - So Are Things Back To Norma... -11/18/08 at 6:55 PM CSTby Perry Rod

For a moment yesterday it felt like things were getting back to normal.  A bulletin hit the wire saying that Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban was being charged by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission with insider trading.  Even the stock market went up for a good twenty minutes after the wire hit. But it soon hit me right back - ...

The SEC Naked Short Selling Cover Up -11/12/08 at 8:15 PM CSTby Perry Rod

Mark Mitchell over at DeepCapture.com is reporting on the SEC cover up involving Gary Aguirre, who in 2006 helped break open the scandal of naked short selling.  Here is his report: There was an article in The New York Times yesterday about the SEC’s disgraceful ruling that it will take no disciplinary action against the SEC cronies at the cen...

Another Day Another Rumor -10/28/08 at 2:00 PM CDTby Reggie Abaca

Hedge funds are starting up another rumor now that Morgan Stanley (MS) and two other firms were being "short squeezed" with their investment into Volkswagen. Goldman Sachs, one of the named, declined to comment, but people inside the company said it had no Volkswagen losses. Morgan Stanley spokesman Mark Lake said frankly that company has no exp...

Deutsche Bank Sold Massive Amounts of Phantom Stock -10/16/08 at 7:54 PM CDTby Perry Rod

Mark Mitchell is reporting over at DeepCapture.com that the New York Stock Exchange has handed Deutsche Bank Securities the largest fine in history for violations of SEC rules designed to prevent the creation of what the chairman of the SEC has called “phantom stock.”  Mitchell goes on to report: The NYSE’s disciplinary order states...