Finance Matters

Archive for February 25th, 2010

Madoff whistle-blower Harry Markopolos is so mad about the botched regulation of The Ponz he’s written a book about it.

Huffington Post: In an explosive new book, Bernie Madoff whistleblower Harry Markopolos tells the inside story of how he uncovered the $65 billion fraud, claims that he exposed State Street’s alleged fraud of pension funds and admits that he considered the idea of killing Madoff if he was ever threatened by the Ponzi schemer.

The mild-mannered fraud investigator’s new book, “No One Would Listen”, is set for release next week, with a foreword by short-seller and Greenlight Capital president David Einhorn who calls Markopolos a “hero.”

Markopolos, of course, said in 2005 that Madoff was “running the world’s largest Ponzi Scheme” but his warnings went unheeded by the SEC and others.

Marcus Baram of HuffPost has a nice summary of Markopolos’ new book today. Some nuggets:

• The Madoff case is just the tip of the iceberg of his multiple probes of financial shenanigans
• The health care industry “makes Wall Street look honest”
• If he felt threatened, he was prepared to kill Madoff himself
• Markopolos claims he tried to give his Madoff file to then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer; Spitzer says he didn’t get it
• Markopolos slams the media, expressing his incredulity at their lack of initiative and says reporters ignored the story he told them about
• He was devastated by the suicide of friend and french money manager Thierry de la Villehuchet, who remained heavily invested in Madoff despite Markopolos’ warnings

Read the full preview here.

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See Also:

• Watch How Arrogant SEC Employees Dismissed Harry Markopolos
• Harry Markopolos: CDS Fraud Will Make Madoff Look "Small-Time"
• Did Harry Markopolos Turn In Another Madoff Yet?

That rite of lawyerly passage known as the Bar exam is now over for February takers. And they are doing what oh so many law grads

have done before them. Celebrate!

For some professions this might mean a nice dinner and quiet toasts of their accomplishment with their peers. But for lawyers-to-be, it’s time to rid themselves of the memory of a month or so of almost constant study by downing a drink. Or, from the sounds of these Tweeters, five or six.

Congrats Bar examinees! Enjoy the evening, be safe, and do your best to not talk about the Bar while you are at the bar.

Click Here For Mostly Bar-Related Post-Bar Tweets! >

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See Also:

• Bar Exam Tweet Of The Day: The Girl With The Cocktail Dress And Hospital Bracelet
• The Bar Exam Is Coming! How The Lawyers-To-Be Are Freaking Out On Twitter
• Consider Yourself Served…Via Twitter

From the Huffington Post:

Jon Corzine, the former Goldman Sachs chief and Senator who was ousted from the NJ governor’s office in November’s election, may soon be a regular face on CNBC.

NJ.com reports that, according to Corzine confidantes, the ex-governor “has arranged to be a regular guest host and commentator on the financial-news network CNBC, among other national outlets.”

Corzine, who will reportedly be a guest host on CNBC’s morning program, has made several TV appearances since leaving politics in January.

Read more at The Huffington Post.

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See Also:

• Charlie Gasparino On CNBC: ‘It’s My Job To Turn This Into A Barroom Brawl’
• Which CNBC Anchor Was The Basis For 30 Rock’s Avery Jessup?
• Corzine Staff Is Already Preparing To Take Over Bank Of America

CNN aired a fascinating story about an ancient, 140-year-old hot dog found in Coney Island recently.

Organizers from the Coney Island History project put the “fossilized” hot dog and bun on display, saying that it was found while the city demolished Feltman’s Kitchen, one of Astroland’s old eateries “where the first hot dog was made.” It froze into a block of ice, according to the CNN report.

But, whoops!

The whole thing was a publicity stunt “in the grand tradition of Coney Island ballyhoo,” Tricia Vita, spokeswoman for the history project, wrote in a press release.

Both CNN and a local cable station aired a story about the hot dog.

We found CNN’s story on YouTube:

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See Also:

• The Funniest Headline Fails Of All Time
• CNN Kicks AP To The Curb (For A Week)
• CNN Takes Back No. 2

What will be the next big “event” shock to come out of Europe?

Waverly Advisors suggests watching municipal debt:

Eurostat lists local government debt at less than 5.5% of GDP for the full union.  In Greece, the estimate is that municipal borrowing is less than 1% of total consolidated government debt.  Although the extent of local government borrowing varies widely between nations,  these estimates appear absurdly low to us.  If the swaps related lawsuits brought by Italian cities Milan and Cassino against investment banks over billions in losses last year are any indication, municipal creditors in some EU nations have been employing credit derivatives actively.  The possibility that a city or province might have a significant localized crisis brought on by heretofore opaque debts is real, particularly in Italy.

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See Also:

• Careful Euro Bears, Greece Will Try To Dropkick You Next Week
• UBS: If Germany Doesn’t Backstop Greece, You Can Kiss The Euro Goodbye
• Euro Bulls Suffer A Near Miss As IMF Suggests Europe Target Higher Inflation