Bank Says Losses Prove No Ill Intent On Monday I posted questions about Goldman Sachs and the CDO that is now a household name: Abacus 2007-AC1. Specifically, I asked: Why did Goldman lose $75 million on this trade, when its negative bets on the housing sector yielded...
Who hasn’t seen the news? The SEC accused Goldman Sachs of fraud, alleging it misrepresented an Abacus CDO. Banks lost $1 billion on the trade. And John Paulson, one of the gods of Greenwich, pocketed that $1 billion through his fund. Here’s what I...
I just watched the 60 Minutes segment on Michael Lewis and his new book, “The Big Short.” He had some terrific sound bites including my favorite about AIG: “…they didn’t know the mistake they were making.” Here’s one reason...
On Thursday, March 18, I’m speaking in Amsterdam at a conference hosted by NRC Focus. The topic is “trust,” and here’s what the magazine writes: Trust is essential for markets to function properly. In a ‘high trust society’ like the...
In case you missed Matt Lauer’s interview with Harry Markopolis, here it is. Markopolis is the money manager from Boston who met with SEC four times and tried to expose Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. He said some terrific things during the interview and some that...
The New York Times describes my novels as “money porn,” “a red-hot franchise,” and “glittery thrillers about fiscal malfeasance.” Through fiction I explore the dark side of money and the motivations of those who have it, want more, and will steamroll anybody who gets in their way.