Wall Street Folly

• Greenspan Concedes That the Fed Failed to Gauge the Bubble
• Rival warned regulators over Lehman
• JPMorgan also used accounting gimmick
• SEC welcomes Lehman report as ‘helpful’
• Lehman estate fight with Barclays escalates
• Speculators seen increasing Greek borrowing costs
• CFTC Gensler: Determined To Reform OTC Market
• Trichet backs tougher CDS regulation
• Palm Narrows Loss, but Phone Sales Drop Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Accounting games, Alan Greenspan, Bankruptcy, CDS, Fed, Greece, Hedge funds, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Palm, SEC, Sovereign debt

• Lehman Whistle-Blower’s Fate: Fired
• Lehman Might Put All Bankruptcy Creditors in Same Payment Pool
• Former chief of Park Avenue Bank charged with TARP fraud
• Hedge Funds May Get $222 Billion Inflows in 2010, Survey Says
• Ex-Merrill Trader Is Banned for Mismarking Positions Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bankruptcy, fraud, Hedge funds, Indictments, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, whistle blowers

Tags: AIG, Alvarez & Marsal, Bankruptcy, Bears, Fees, Lehman Brothers, Marc Faber, Tim Geithner, U.S. Treasury; Bailout

• Turnout Is Key in Massachusetts Battle
• Credit Suisse Cuts Bonus Pool to Spread Costs From U.K. Taxes
• Wall Street May Seek to Sway Congress by Hiring Top Lawyer
• US investment banks divided over levy
• Citigroup Reports 2009 Full Year Managed Revenues(1) of $91.1 Billion and Expenses of $47.8 Billion
• AIG Tries to Defuse Bonus Pay Showdown
• Berkshire Nears Smaller Baby Bs
• Buffett Cuts Berkshire Stake Below 25% on Rail Deal, Charity Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: AIG, Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Berkshire Hathaway, Bonuses, Citigroup, Compensation, Credit Suisse, Mergers, Politics, Taxes, UK, Warren Buffett

• Tepper Turns Panic to Profits With $6.5 Billion Hedge Fund Gain
• Morgan Stanley Shuffles Leadership
• Third Avenue co-chief investment officer steps down
• The Quickie Bankruptcy
• Suit Over Resorts Hits Credit Suisse
• Greece May Borrow Privately Through Banks This Month
• Plunging home prices pull Manhattan buyers back in
• Silicon Valley ‘Bloodbath’ Leaves Entire Office Buildings Empty Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Appaloosa, Bankruptcy, Credit Suisse, Dave Tepper, Hedge funds, Junk Bonds, Lawsuit, Marty Whitman, Morgan Stanley, Real Estate

• Geithner Said to Be Seeking TARP Extension Until Next October
• Greece Finance Minister Says No Risk of Default
• Jackson’s (W)Hole
• Morgan Stanley reshuffles to take on Goldman
• Morgan Stanley Ousts Petrick as Trading Chief, Promotes Porat
• Nomura to wind down Lehman fixed bonuses
• Apollo Investment plans to sell 10 million shares
• Barclays Says Lehman Brokerage Sale Gave It No ‘Secret’ Gain
• AIG General Counsel Kelly May Depart After Protesting Pay Limit
• Judge Approves CIT Group’s Restructuring Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: AIG, Apollo, Barclays, CIT, Dubai, GM, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, Politics, Sovereign wealth funds, TARP, Tiger Woods, Tim Geithner, U.S. Treasury

Is Jamie Dimon looking to cherry pick CIT’s profitable factoring unit?  There’s speculation that JP Morgan may get involved.: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bankruptcy, CIT, JP Morgan, retailers

This is WAY too funny.  Jon Stewart gets two lampoons in for the price of one on last night’s ‘The Daily Show’.  He looks at Lenny Dykstra’s rise and fall, from his days as a brainless foul mouthed jock (what the hell was he chewing?….classy!) to financial guru living the high life in his multi-million dollar estate to bankrupt delusional.  And then Stewart ties it up with a big bow mocking his old buddy Jim Cramer who’s shown ridiculously and earnestly praising Dykstra on his show as “A guy who is applying the same skills to money that he applied to sports.  It’s brilliant!”….”Not only is he sophisticated but he is one of the great ones in this business”.

Don’t miss this one.  It’s pretty hilarious.

Yesterday’s Daily Show ‘must see tv’

Tags: Bankruptcy, delusionals, financial gurus, Jim Cramer, Lenny Dykstra, Sports, Videos

The Ex-Met star turned entrepreneur filed Chapter 11, listing assets less than a paltry $50K and liabilities of between $10 – $50 million. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bankruptcy, Lenny Dykstra, Schadenfreude, Sports, TMZ

• Barbarians in Bankruptcy Court
• Credit Traders In Demand As Banks Look To Rebuild
• Pickens Says Oil Will Average $80 to $85 a Barrel
• Moody’s Downgrades $761M Of Credit Suisse RMBS, Most To Junk Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bankruptcy, Boone Pickens, Credit Suisse, High yield, Oil, Private equity, Revolving Door, Upgrades/Downgrades

It’s over.  No love from the Supreme Court for the Indiana state pension funds that tried to block the Chrysler asset sale to Fiat.   We still believe that the secured creditors were completely robbed.

Late Tuesday, the Supreme Court turned down the opponents’ last-ditch bid. The court issued a brief, unsigned opinion explaining its action. To obtain a delay, or stay, someone must show that at least four of the nine justices find that the issue raised is serious enough to warrant hearing a full appeal and that a majority of the court will conclude the lower court decision was wrong.

“The applicants have not carried that burden,” the court said.

Supreme Court to let Chrysler sale go forward – AP

Tags: Autos, Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Chrysler, creditors' rights, highway robbery, Politics, SCOTUS

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Tags: Bankruptcy, Cerberus, Fidelity, GLG, Hedge funds, KKR, Private equity

Not so fast: A small window of hope has opened that long held legal rules may still actually mean something.  The Supreme Court has stayed, at least temporarily, the sale of Chrysler assets to Fiat.  No time frame was noted in Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s order.

Tags: Autos, Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Chrysler, creditors' rights, Politics, Supreme court

Could the recently announced agreement to sell Hummer to Sichuan Tengzhong already be in trouble?  Chinese regulators may block the deal according to Bloomberg, recounting a report from Shanghai Securities News….. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Asset Sale, Autos, Bankruptcy, China, GM, Hummer, Politics

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Tags: Bank of America, Bankruptcy, Barclays, Citigroup, GM, Hedge funds, Merrill Lynch, SEC

• The Obama Motor Co.
• ‘New GM’ Products Face Triple Market Challenge
• What’s GM worth?
• GM Filing Pits UAW Against Investors
• GM’s Bankruptcy Plan Wins Support From Majority of Bondholders
• Germany Picks Magna to Buy Opel; 11,000 Jobs May Go
• Auto Suppliers Brace for Blow of GM Bankruptcy
• Chrysler Judge Plans to Rule June 1 on Asset Sale to Fiat Group
• Opponents of Chrysler Sale Fight to the End in Court

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Autos, Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Chrysler, Economy, GM, Politics

Ralph Nader came out swinging against Obama’s GM fix in a WSJ op ed piece…. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Autos, Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, congress, GM, Politics, Ralph Nader

Tags: Autos, Bankruptcy, Chrysler, Distressed, GM, Jon Stewart, Videos

With prospect of the inevitable bankruptcy filing looming closer and closer, six GM executives threw in the towel on the company's stock.

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More talk about the heavy handedness of the Obama regime, as well as how the "propaganda" has led to death threats to members of the Non-Tarp Lenders…..

Here are some excerpts as well as the full filing:

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Tags: Autos, Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Chrysler, Politics

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Per Bloomberg:

The nerve of those nasty hedge funds that hold first lien secured Chrysler paper who won't roll over and accede to the will of the Obama administration.  Because they wouldn't roll over and allow themselves to be totally screwed in favor of more junior creditors (like the UAW to which Obama is politically beholding), they're being painted as the sole reason for the failure to cobble together an out of bankruptcy restructuring.  We cry bullshit on the Obama administration (as well as their continual deluded statements that any bankruptcy will be "quick" or "surgical" or "quick rinse". Good luck with that).  Following is a statement from an unnamed Obama administration official cited by the Wall Street Journal, and below that is the response of the hedge funds (aka, the Non-Tarp Lenders).

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He says opportunities abound in distressed debt, especially in the debt of casinos…

Tags: Avenue Capital, Avenue Investments, bankruptcies, Bankruptcy, bonds, credit markets, Distressed, Distressed investing, Hedge funds, high yield bonds, Marc Lasry