"the subprime market looks pretty damn ugly… If we believe the [CDOs report is] ANYWHERE CLOSE to accurate I think we should close the funds now."
"The reason for this is that if [the CDO report] is correct then the entire supbrime market is toast… If AAA bonds are systematically downgraded then there is simply now way for us to make money — ever."
- Matthew Tannin, arrested Bear Stearns toxic mortgage hedge fund manager, from an intercepted email written in April 2007, as the funds collapsed and the managers denied any problems
June 20, 2008
HousingPANIC "It's Feeling Like ENRON All Over Again Ain't It" Pre-Frog-March Intercepted E-mail Quote of the Day
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14 comments:
FROG-MARCH!
1. I'm not exactly sure what's illegal here - how often do people have private views which are not the same as what they say in public? Is that now a crime? I would be in a LOT of trouble if it is.
2. This is practically the definition of insider info - if they traded on it, that's a crime - but if they did not trade on it, that's pretty standard.
3. How many CEOs/CFOs/top accountants are looking at financial disasters right now and putting out optimistic press. Do they all get frog-marched?
4. Need extensive clarification on this on just how much they can hide.
ME AND BERNANKE TRADE EMAILS ALL THE TIME LIKE THAT ABOUT THE ECONOMY AND WE'VE NEVER BEEN ARRESTED.
UNFORTUNATELY WE AREN'T ABLE TO SHUT DOWN THE ECONOMY LIKE THESE LUCKY GENTLEMEN WERE ABLE TO DO WITH THEIR BAD HEDGE FUND.
WE JUST KEEP PRINTING MONEY AND SMILING.
OH, AND REMEMBER, IF YOU WALK AWAY FROM YOUR OVERPRICED HOME, YOU'RE A SPE, SPE, SPEC, SPECULATOR!!!
Hi Keith. Smug Bastard here. Since you mentioned Enron in your topic... Take a look at UBS Warburg Energy. This is the outfit that absorbed Enron's trading practices after the company imploded. Some of the people who were in charge also were picked up by UBS Warburg (ones who eluded prosecution). This was back in 2002. They let go of a lot of the staff and moved their location from Houston to Stamford CT. Big trading floor for trading energy futures. Kind of hard to find on any google searches where recent news is concerned but UBS has a storied past when it comes to run ins with authorities. They (UBS) have been on the losing end of the stick where bets on mortgages are concerned as of late but I'm guessing they (UBS Warburg Energy) make up for some of that with energy trades. I never found anything that directly had anything to do with oil/gasoline but it sure is some coincidence that gasoline prices really started going to the moon early in 2003. I'm guessing from having read this blog for some time that you're probably a lot more saavy than yours truly about looking for news about this kind of stuff but I found it an interesting subject and maybe you will too.
Smug Bastard
anon @6:42,
You can't be the manager of a fund and think that fund is about to be toast, and then a few days later tell the SEC everything is wonderful. It's called securities fraud.
There is a difference between a press release and SEC filing.
A little current UBS news for you Keith.
http://biz.yahoo.com/nytimes/080619/1194786879212.html?.v=5
smug bastard,
Maybe oil and gas prices have been going up because there are 12,000 new drivers in China and India every freaking day. This wasn't happening in the 1990's. There have been no major oilfields discovered and put into production since the Cantarell fields over 30 years ago. We have 10 billion barrels in ANWR and another 10 billion off the Florida coast but they are off limits.
anon, I agree that more pressure from new users of oil and the fact that none of the developed countries curbed their appetite for oil played into the spike of prices but I also believe that speculation has played a part in the run up of energy prices.
SB
http://www.ubs.com/1/e/media_overview/media_global/search1/search10?newsId=59131
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/NG/M
coincidence? Prices for energy are up... not just gasoline but even when you track prices for U.S. Natural Gas. Speculation is playing a part in this. We didn't suddenly ramp up consumption by over 30% to 60% in the space of five years.
SB
Ha ha! Very interesting. That message was sent just after I came across HP.
So these guys weren't that stupid after all. And they weren't even blinded by their own systems. They were just viciously dishonest!
I'm not exactly sure what's illegal here - how often do people have private views which are not the same as what they say in public?
Intentionally mispricing assets on your balance sheet is a violation of a dozen federal laws including the SEC Act of 1934 and SOX.
Clearly, the days of dry humping in front of your realtor are over...
Mercifully...
Hey Keefer,
Got a question for you:
Don't you have to be French or something to be "Frog Marched?"
Just askin'
-Mike
"Intentionally mispricing assets on your balance sheet is a violation of a dozen federal laws "
Solutions: move things off your balance sheet and write politicians suchs as Pelosi a kind e-mail to write a law for it making it legal.
Enron is still very much alive.
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