Finance

All posts related to Finance on Guest of a Guest for Finance.

Well, wow. The S.E.C. filed a suit against Goldman Sachs today claiming securities fraud. Despite my (complete lack of) financial savvy, I'm going to focus on some of the more tangential and less banker-y  victims of the story. More»

In case you still thought the life of an analyst was glamorous, you can now be completely disabused of this notion by these sarcastic monotone lego figures whose business speak is rife with shopworn terms such as "ballparking it" and "don't spin your wheels". More»

Jeremiah stumbled upon Bundle, a new site that shows you how people piss away their dwindling paychecks, broken down by zip code. And it proves that New York neighborhoods, as always, happily conform to stereotypes, even if it lands residents in the poorhouse.  More»

This past Tuesday SumZero, an invite-only investment buyside analyst community, held their first social get-together at the Bryant Park Cafe that featured a smorgasbord of investment professionals, portfolio managers, and MBA types.  And believe it or not it wasn't just male quant jocks, there were some finance gals there too!  Perhaps this group will make the Soho House second guess their anti-Finance guy eugenics?  Ok maybe not... More»


[Party's over byutEdward Liddy s still smiling...Where are Mr. Pink Elephant and Julia Allison when we need them and their very pink wardrobes most?!]

Code Pink protesters hold up signs as Edward Liddy, chairman and CEO of the American International Group arrives at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill March 18, 2009 in Washington, DC. The committee is hearing testimony on America International Group's (AIG) bonus plan that has caused a uproar from the American public and members of Congress. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Image) More photos below.... More»

[Miami-Dade County Criminal Court Record for Samuel Piedrahita.  Click to enlarge]

Back in February, we did a post on Fairfield Greenwich Group jet-set salesman Andres Piedrahita's previous investment track record, which was anything but stellar.  Piedrahita is a son-in-law of FGG's co-founder Walter Noel (and brother-in-law of socialite Marisa Noel Brown), and despite failures in the past was able to fail upward to "success" at FGG selling Bernard Madoff products to investors around the world.

Today we received a comment tip on Piedrahita's father Samuel's past criminal record in Miami.

Andres piedrahita’s father Samuel–fled the american justice system.He killed a man in miami driving under the influence of alcohol and fled to colombia.  You can bet that like father like son

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It's a hard time for many adults out there.  And, sometimes, stressful situations lead grown men and women to exhibit less than mature behaviors.  Case in point: Madoff's home in Palm Beach seemed to have been TP'd (that's covered in toilet paper) over the weekend by children of parents that lost money in the scandal.  More importantly , their parents told them to do it!  [Palm Beach Post].  For what it's worth, they did a half ass job, a true artiste would have left the house barely visible.

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Note: Sometimes we need to stray from NYC's hottest people, parties & nightlife to share something truly enlightening or apropos to the times...

Peter Schiff was right.  He called the economic crisis of 2008.  Congratulations, he probably is a very wealthy man right now.  But the most interesting part of this collection of video, however, is the aggressive and scornful posture most of the other talking heads have towards Schiff and his views.  At the time no one could have truly been sure who was right or wrong, but Schiff at the least conducted himself like a gentleman. More»

More bailout and financial humor after the jump... More»


[Steve Cohen says NO to Porsche, YES to coal]

If you've been following the markets recently, you've probably been hearing all about "bailouts" and banks crumbling.  You've also probably heard Jim Cramer inside every New York cab bellowing "Beware of companies that pay ultra high dividends!  In this economy a defense could be your best offense!"  But you may not have heard that hedge fund managers would rather have coal in their stocking this year than a brand new Porsche.

The reason has nothing to do with a paradigm shift in luxury tastes, rather one of the most spectacular wrong hedge fund bets that occurred just weeks ago, a bet that has led to losses of close to $12 billion dollars.  Funds including Steve Cohen's renowned SAC capital tried to "short" Volkswagen, unaware that Porsche had a massive option and planned to purchase a majority stake because of looser German disclosure requirements.

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Apparently this skit was pulled from the web because of the potential problems it might have caused NBC.  SNL reposted an edited version, however, we have the unedited version here.  A tipster writes:

They have pulled the video and apparently gone after anyone who put the video out there, because the video has all but disappeared off the internet. It was up on multiple sites and virtually all the copies are gone now. There are a few new “edited” copies on the net.

Anyway, here it is for all you to enjoy!