Wall Street Folly

Cheap Seats Available – Airlines Are Flying With a Strong Tailwind Housing Hangover? – Housing’s Hidden Headache Much at Stake – The Fall Docket: Business Cases Abound The Perfect Storm – Florida’s Housing Hurricane The Silver Lining In HP’s Scandal Juicier Apple Is Tempting

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This Harvard-educated hedge fund guy wants a housegirl to take care of his life.

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Tags: Craigslistspotting

This self-described handsome Ivy League school / Wharton MBA / former model  with six pack abs who works at an investment bank wants to meet a drop dead woman.  But no, he’s not shallow.

That said, the above Mr. Perfect probably looks like Jabba the Hut.

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Tags: Craigslistspotting

Things are getting done even through the turmoil at Pirate Capital.  Today they filed an amended 13D for PW Eagle and now own a 22.5% stake, up from 20.5% on August 31 — with purchases made through yesterday.

In August, Pirate Capital entered into a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan with regard to PW Eagle’s common shares. The trading plan is effective until Feb. 22, 2007, and provides for the purchase of up to $30 million of PW Eagle’s common shares.

Shares of PW Eagle closed Thursday at $28.98 each.

In May, it was reported that Pirate Capital had notified PW Eagle of its intention to acquire more than 20% of the company’s voting shares and that it might buy additional shares, enabling it to hold more than 33.3% of the shares entitled to vote.

In late May, PW Eagle’s shareholders elected seven new directors, boosting the board’s membership from five, and the board formed a strategic committee to look into the potential sale of the company.

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Tags: Hedge funds, Pirate Capital

A dispute is brewing over the characterization of the departure of some of the Pirate Capital staffers, and litigation might be brewing:

Pirate founder Thomas Hudson, in a letter sent today to investors, didn’t say what led to the departures. He’ll close the Norwalk, Connecticut-based firm’s funds to new investments, and concentrate on managing money rather than courting clients and overseeing his staff, according to the letter.

“My goal is to focus on returns, not the size of the assets we manage,” he wrote.

The letter said analysts Zachary George and David Lorber resigned on Sept. 26, and Carl Klein, the firm’s fixed-income portfolio manager, quit the next day. Hudson then fired analysts David Muccia and Matthew Goldfarb, the letter said. All will leave after a 30-day transition.

“What Hudson wrote in the letter to investors is a blatant mischaracterization of the circumstances of our departure,” Goldfarb and Muccia said during a phone call this evening. “We are currently exploring appropriate legal remedies.”

Meet the current and former pirates: We did some research on the departees and those who remain, and here’s what we pieced together:

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Tags: Hedge funds, Pirate Capital

Stick a fork in ‘em — they’re done:  According to a just aired CNBC report, David Faber said that Amaranth will likely be facing an orderly liquidation.  Talks between the spectacularly imploded hedge fund and Citigroup broke off last night.  R.I.P.

Kobi Alexander reportedly isn’t very happy with his current accomodations — a Namibian jail cell.   The food apparently isn’t up to snuff, from what he is telling his lawyers.  He made his first appearance before a court judge in the country he had hoped to make his home yesterday.

Appearing unshaved and wearing a black leather jacket, Mr. Alexander, 54, seemed calm at a hearing on his application to be released on bail. The proceeding was postponed until Monday to allow his local lawyers more time to prepare.

That means that Mr. Alexander will spend the next few days in the H-Section of Windhoek Central Prison, the country’s largest.

That means that Mr. Alexander will spend the next few days in the H-Section of Windhoek Central Prison, the country’s largest.

Bail?  BAIL?  Ya, right.  Like that’s gonna happen.  Kobi better not be holding his breath…

Dennis Khama of the Namibian Justice Ministry said: “Within the next 30 days, the U.S. must provide us with a formal extradition request or he must be released. He is allowed a formal bail application. If bail is refused, he will be remanded into custody for the next 30 days.”

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Tags: Backdating, Kobi Alexander, Legal

Way back in June it was reported that Highbridge Capital co-founder Glenn Dubin would be buying Jackie Onassis’ famed Fifth Avenue apartment for $32 million.  Months later, Dubin and family finally got co-op board approval and the deal is done for $30 million.  According to Page Six:

The former Fifth Avenue apartment of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis has finally sold, after the buyer waited nearly 5 months to be approved by the co-op board. According to public records, billionaire David Koch sold the full-floor, 12-room flat at 1040 Fifth Ave. – where Jackie lived until her death in 1994 – for $30 million to hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin. The Post’s Braden Keil reported in May that a buyer had been found for the spread priced at $32 million. But Dubin had to wait until the board reconvened after the summer. The Corcoran Group had the listing.

Jackie Pad Sold – Page Six New York Post

Tags: Hedge funds, Real Estate

• Pirate Capital’s Hudson Says He’s Determined to Improve Returns
• Pirate Capital loses staff after returns slip
• Hedge Fund Shrinks Staff and Faces S.E.C. Inquiry

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Tags: Hedge funds, Pirate Capital

• Hostile bids push M&A to record
• Wall Street U.S. Profits to Dive 23% in ‘07, SIA Says
• Morgan Stanley Broadens Bonus Pool For Promising Brokers
• Goldman Sachs Top Invest Bank Earner In Asia Year-To-Date
• Thain Is Confident Offer for Euronext Will Be Attractive
• LSE Trading Volumes Accelerate, But Analysts See No Effect on Bids
• Nasdaq seen playing a waiting game for LSE
• AA Capital’s SEC charges unexpected
• Credit Suisse restores asset management leadership
• The world’s most dynamic financial centre
• NatWest loses first round in court case over charity linked to Hamas
• Probing the Pretexters
• Dunn lays blame for HP scandal on others
• For Ten Witnesses, Nothing but the Fifth
• H.P. Before a Skeptical Congress
• Hewlett-Packard Scandal Catalyst Sails Far From Fray
• HP’s Baskins embattled and admired
• Judge refuses to dismiss fraud charges in Qwest case
• Ex-Oracle employee plants seeds of wine industry in India
• Why does Kerkorian want more GM stock?
• Here’s Why Ghosn, GM Can’t Be Allies: Doron Levin
• Kerkorian Pushes G.M. for Renault-Nissan Deal
• Airbus Work May Move Elsewhere As a Broad Revamp Is Considered
• Heard On The Street: Backstory of Kinder LBO Underscores Web of Ethical Issues Such Deals Face
• Heard In Asia: Coles Myer’s Defensive Drive
• EMI in talks ‘over position’ with Warner
• PayPal Agrees to Better Detail Its Fraud Protection Policies
• Tribune taps Citigroup, Merrill Lynch for advice
• BW Cutting Staffers – New Editor Cleans House; 14 Writers, Editors Axed

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Wow.  We go out for a couple of hours and come back to yet another hedge fund with major issues.   Half of Pirate Capital’s staff jumped ship and the fund is now closed to new investors.  Tom Hudson, the firm’s founder says that he’s not liquidating positions or shutting down the firm.

Pirate Capital LLC said five of its ten investment professionals resigned and it will close its funds to new investments, according to a letter to investors.

Pirate, which oversees $1.7 billion, didn’t say why the staffers were leaving the firm after a 30-day transition period.

Thomas Hudson, founder of the Norwalk, Connecticut-based firm, declined to comment by e-mail when contacted by Bloomberg News. He’s built a reputation as an activist investor by taking stakes in companies and pressuring them for changes to boost their stock prices.

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Tags: Hedge funds, Pirate Capital

Gurufocus.com has a piece on famed value investor Seth Klarman of Baupost (who’s the author of the coveted out of print book "Margin of Safety" that now changes hands in the four digits).  It’s a summary of a lecture at Columbia Business School, where Klarman outlined some of the investment strategies talked about in his book.

Seth Klarman on the Art of Complex Deep Value Investing – Guru Focus

Tags: Baupost, Hedge funds

This morning’s USA Today focuses on Harvard Business School, the bad bahavior of some of its alums, and on its ethics courses that are now offerred as a result of the many huge corporate scandals of the past several years.   It points to such naughty alums as Enron’s Jeff Skilling and former Cendant Vice Chairman E. Kirk Shelton who was found guilty last year of cooking the books.  Harvard serves as the article’s poster child for bad MBA behavior, although clearly other schools also have their share of grads who may have benefitted from ethics classes, which have been offerred at Harvard since the 80’s but only became mandatory a few years ago.

If there’s any lesson to be learned from the accounting scandals of recent years, it’s that no one — not even executives trained at some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning — is immune from the temptations of the executive compensation bonanza, where subtle manipulations of accounting entries can translate into bonuses and stock options worth tens of millions of dollars.

As a result of the wave of accounting frauds exposed at Enron, WorldCom, HealthSouth and other companies a few years ago, business schools across the USA have beefed up their offerings on ethics education.

And so, as this year’s estimated crop of 43,000 MBA students begin taking accounting and finance courses this fall, most of them can expect to receive some form of ethics education in the classroom, either as a stand-alone course or woven into the existing curriculum.

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Tags: Harvard, Legal, MBA

• Investors in Amaranth Press Return of Funds
• Hunter Leaves Amaranth; Investors On Hunt
• Amaranth unlikely to survive independently-source
• Dresdner caught up in Amaranth

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Tags: Amaranth, Hedge funds

A reader sent this in to us last night (thanks!)  — a picture said to be of a very young Nick Maounis — in his "just plain Nicky" pre hedge fund days — from the 1976-77 Cloonan Middle School "UPBEAT" Band & Orchestra yearbook. 

If anyone has more recent pictures that they’d care to share (and of Brian Hunter too) please send ‘em our way!

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Tags: Amaranth, Hedge funds

If you’re itching to know exactly what was said by Nick Maounis on the twelve minute long 9/22 Amaranth investor conference call, there’s a transcript (pdf file) on Michael Covel’s site.

Tags: Amaranth, Hedge funds

Not so surprising: Just hours before Hewlett Packard executives were set to testify before Congress, the company’s General Counsel, Ann Baskins resigned effective immediately.

“I want to thank Ann for 24 years of outstanding service and devotion to HP,” said Mark Hurd, HP chairman and chief executive officer. “She began her career here shortly after law school and worked her way up to serve as the company’s top lawyer, earning along the way a reputation for hard work and integrity. She has admirably supported our business needs across the globe and will be missed. Stepping down was a very hard decision for her, but by doing so she has put the interests of HP above her own and that is to be commended.”

HP General Counsel Resigns – BusinessWire

Tags: Hewlett Packard

• Goldman to Reap Handsome Profit On Chinese IPO
• Hermes CEO Anson Says Buyout Fees Too High, May Slow Returns
• Germany Aims To Boost German Hedge Fund Market
• China calls for cooperation on hedge fund risks
• Bank of America Settles Money Laundering Probe
• Societe Generale Lifts Stake in Rosbank to 20%, May Buy Control
• Credit Suisse Overhauls Equities Unit Under Ehinger
• Bloomberg ‘battle plan’ to lift NYSE
• Bondholders Seek $21.5 Million in Damages From BearingPoint Default
• Chanin Capital Partners Enhances M&A, Restructuring Groups With Addition of Three Senior-Level Bankers
• Naughty & NYSE – The Big Board Is DirtyingIts Hands With OTC Stocks
• Jungle Booked [Kobi Alexander]
• Heard On The Street: Hewlett-Packard Shares Retain Luster Despite a Board Tarnished by Scandal
• HP dragged its feet, critics say
• Between the Lines Of HP’s Spy Scandal
• Hewlett-Packard’s Hurd to Tell Congress `HP Way’ Was Ignored
• Hewlett-Packard’s Dunn Denies Hiring Investigators
• Dunn Suggests She Was Unaware of Probe Tactics
• HP spying scandal back in the spotlight
• GM talks with Ghosn go nowhere
• Lampert Plans to Leave AutoZone’s Board
• Icahn to increase Federated stake, meet with company
• Barneys is poised to make its second Dallas debut
• Third Point seeks shareholders’ help to oust Nabi CEO
• Viacom Bondholders Drive Up Yields After Redstone Ousts Freston
• Creator of Morpheus Is Found Liable

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This psychology major wants a rich guinea pig:  She’s looking for a Wall Streeter, an entrepreneur or some other very successful business man.  She’ll be your friend and your confidante.   You can talk to her about your fetishes if you want — like if you’re into wearing women’s lingerie.  But no sex.

And of course, there’s a fee.

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Tags: Craigslistspotting

Now it’s really official.  Goldmansex.com is offline.  And as for the website owner’s alternate name choice of Goldmensex.com?  If you enter that url, you’re pointed another name, with no Goldman to be found in the title.  The new moniker: Cityoflove.com.  We’re guessing that Goldman protested the alternate name as well, with the website giving in.  In any event, Goldman must be relieved.

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Tags: Goldman Sachs, GoldmanSex.com

Fortune Magazine’s current edition features a fascinating in-depth piece on the insider trading ring (covered extensively by WSF since the news broke) that snared former Goldman Sachs analysts Eugene Plotkin (pictured at left) and David Pajcin (pictured below), former Merrill Lynch analyst Stanislav Shpigelman, and a cast of characters including Croatians, a stripper/exotic dancer, a US Mail employee and workers at Business Week’s printer.   Plotkin gave his first interview since his arrest to Fortune, in the presense of his lawyer.  He doesn’t talk about the case — he still maintains his innocence even though Pajcin, Shpigelman and others in the pervasive ring have already caved, are cooperating with the feds, and have copped pleas. 

When Plotkin spoke to Fortune in early September, he talked about his plans for the future. They don’t include Wall Street. His current ambition is to become a novelist and screenwriter like Michael Crichton. "I’d love to do something with writing or something creative," Plotkin says. "I never thought of it as a career choice before, but maybe I was wrong not to."

His lawyer, Edward Little, wouldn’t comment on any of the specifics of the case. "What’s happening to Gene is a real-life rendition of the movie he made," he says. "The bad guy in the movie is the government cooperator trying to shift blame for what he did to the good guy. Gene played the good guy there too."

Indeed, toward the end of his script, Plotkin’s hero pleads, "I just want my life back."

To which Pajcin’s sinister drug dealer responds, "Sorry, bud, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen." 

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Tags: Eugene Plotkin, Goldman Sachs, Insider Trading, Merrill Lynch

Seems like you just can’t get good honest domestics these days:  The SEC accused Graham Lefford, the former Hamptons butler of media and entertainment mogul Robert F.X. Sillerman, of insider trading after he bought shares of a company that his former employer was acquiring.

Lefford, 44, turned his $600 investment into a $48,525 profit when he later sold the shares, the agency said.

On August 12, 2004 Lefford called his broker to purchase 5,000 shares of Sports Entertainment Enterprises, Inc., minutes after faxing a confidential document for his employer, media and entertainment mogul Robert F.X. Sillerman, from a poolside office, according to an SEC lawsuit filed in U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York.

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Tags: Hamptons, Insider Trading

So does little Barron Trump have one yet?:  Santa Barbara based Baby Toupee, seller of "small wigs for small people", is offering their own tribute to Donald Trump with one of their wigs dubbed "The Donald".

(We added the text)

Tags: Donald Trump

The Wall Street Journal reported that fugitive ex-Comverse CEO Kobi Alexander has been caught in Namibia. (You all must have heard of it — it’s where Angelina and Brad gave birth to Shiloh.) He’s being held pending extradition.

Namibia didn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S., but the U.S. authorities had located Kobi there via bank transactions a while back and the Namibia government enacted a law to establish an extradition treaty with the U.S., prompted by this case. The U.S. still needs to extradite him. A letter and indictment are expected to be unsealed very shortly.

Comverse Ex-CEO Is Located in Namibia – Wall Street Journal

Tags: Backdating, Kobi Alexander, Legal

• Nymex Warned Amaranth in August on Trades, People Say
• SEC’s Atkins says risk system worked with Amaranth
• ICE’s Pain Is Nymex’s Gain

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Tags: Amaranth, Hedge funds