Kyle Bass, Hayman Capital Hedge Fund Manager, is best known in the finance world for predicting the 2008 housing market meltdown. Few listened then, but took his careful study of markets more seriously after the housing market imploded. Btw, he made millions. [Read more…]
October 4, 2011
SOROS IS ATTEMPTING TO TAKE OVER "OCCUPY AMERICA" MOVEMENT
Editor’s Note: Back in 2009, we watched the organic movement of the Tea Party infiltrated and taken over by FreedomWorks, the Koch Brothers and Fox. Today, the public associates the Tea Party efforts to the Republican Party even though the majority of self-identified Tea Partiers consider themselves to be Independents. The take over succeeded in diluting and re channeling these patriots momentum, not b/c they were right or wrong, BUT b/c many of the early supporters no longer wished to give any kind of support to either national party. As an electorate, we’ve grown beyond tired of having to choose b/w two losers, but that is how the establishment works and is a chief reason why a new movement will be born out of “Occupy America”. As we learned from the Republican hijacking of the Tea Party movement, anything that dares to threaten the establishments agenda will be ridiculed, taken over, crushed or simply ignored. Today, it looks like the D’s are swooping in to try and hijack “Occupy America’s” momentum and to refocus the energy to support Obama’s re election campaign agenda. Here’s to hoping they fail, and fail miserably! It’s past time for the people, only the people, to rise up and say enough to the political and financial establishment who are plunging not only America but the world into ruin! To the people of “Occupy America” don’t allow yourselves to be played, because the people of the world have been waiting a long time for American’s to take back our country from the greedy hands of the establishment. They, we, need you to succeed.
October 4, 2010
by Wayne Madsen
Wall Street and London hedge fund tycoon George Soros sent a signal to his minions and infiltrators when he stated that he sympathized with the Occupy Wall Street movement. Soros’s statement dovetailed with David Plouffe, President Obama’s Senior Adviser, making contact with certain newly-minted “leaders” of the “Occupy” movement across the United States to ensure that they are as politically-manipulated by the White House as a vast majority of “Tea Party” members have been manipulated by senior Republican Party officials and the billionaire Koch Brothers. [Read more…]
October 2, 2011
MELTDOWN 'THE MEN WHO CRASHED THE WORLD'
By far this is the most outstanding investigative report I’ve seen detailing what happened in 2008 resulting in the financial meltdown felt by every person alive today. This is a must watch. Turn off the idiot box and learn what the hell really happened then and how the cycle of destruction continues. (Note: click on headline or scroll down below the fourth video and click on full story to especially view the first two videos. Click on vid bar to enlarge to full screen)
Part 2/4 ‘A GLOBAL FINANCIAL TSUNAMI’
Part 3/4 ‘Paying the Price’
Part 4/4 ‘After the Fall’
The Most Dangerous Man in the World [just ahead of Rupert Murdoch]
September 19-20, 2011
by Wayne Madsen, Wayne Madsen Reports
How Soros and his friends are forestalling popular uprisings by controlling them
From sources inside the non-governmental organization (NGO) community, WMR has been informed that George Soros’s “themed revolution” operations are now on the streets in America. Hoping to steer and influence popular outrage over President Obama’s and the GOP’s bailout of Wall Street billionaires and the steady whittling away of government services, including Social Security, Medicare, and the Postal Service, the Soros-funded “democracy” operations are working hand-in-glove with the CIA-influenced National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and its Republican and Democratic subsidiaries, as well as Democratic Party political operatives. Also funding the “democracy” operations is the CIA-funded U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). [Read more…]
August 8, 2011
Bloody Monday….and so it begins….
Following Friday night’s credit rating announcement by S & P Chairman John Chambers, the T-Room will be capturing and posting hotlinks throughout the day to capture the market’s reaction.
Some in the industry have termed today as “Bloody Monday” which by all accounts appears appropriate given the headlines already appearing and it’s only 10:06 am.
To give you a bit more context as to what is happening and how Congress seems to be benefitting personally from all of this, we kick off this post with a “Government Gone Wild” video highlighting those congress critters, who are now on the “List” and the millions they are making to enrich themselves by betting on your losses – [Read more…]
July 5, 2011
Keiser Report: Robbed and Securitised
This week’s Keiser Report covers –
“This week Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, report on ‘no buyers’ at the firesale of Greek national income producing assets and on Ben Bernanke as the Taliban of finance. In the second half of the show, Max talks to economist Yanis Varoufakis about the bailout and austerity packages for Greece.”
June 14, 2011
Keiser Report: Economic Melt-Through
Stacy Herbert and Max Keiser covers economic front throughout the world.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls0IapIGhjg
June 6, 2011
Max Keiser: The Private Federal Reserve Bank, "A Global Mafia Cartel"
Alex talks with film-maker, broadcaster and former broker and options trader Max Keiser about the economy and other topics.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os_ySWiAmPk
Part 2
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V6JU4s2cAE
Well, There’s Your Problem Right There … Insider Trading Rules Don’t Apply To Congress
May 20, 2011
RT – Taibbi: 'U.S. politics – reality show sponsored by Wall Street'
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hpMEPYzdJ8
By Matt Taibbi
May 11, 2011 9:30 AM ET
They weren’t murderers or anything; they had merely stolen more money than most people can rationally conceive of, from their own customers, in a few blinks of an eye. But then they went one step further. They came to Washington, took an oath before Congress, and lied about it.
Thanks to an extraordinary investigative effort by a Senate subcommittee that unilaterally decided to take up the burden the criminal justice system has repeatedly refused to shoulder, we now know exactly what Goldman Sachs executives like Lloyd Blankfein and Daniel Sparks lied about. We know exactly how they and other top Goldman executives, including David Viniar and Thomas Montag, defrauded their clients. America has been waiting for a case to bring against Wall Street. Here it is, and the evidence has been gift-wrapped and left at the doorstep of federal prosecutors, evidence that doesn’t leave much doubt: Goldman Sachs should stand trial.
Read the rest of Taibbi’s article at Rolling Stone by clicking HERE
March 2, 2011
Board Member of Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble Charged in Insider Trading Scheme
See Updates Below
(As of last evening, Gupta resigned his lucrative board seat at Procter & Gamble.)
Washington, D.C., March 1, 2011 – The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced insider trading charges against a Westport, Conn.-based business consultant who has served on the boards of directors at Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble for illegally tipping Galleon Management founder and hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam with inside information about the quarterly earnings at both firms as well as an impending $5 billion investment by Berkshire Hathaway in Goldman.
The SEC’s Division of Enforcement alleges that Rajat K. Gupta, a friend and business associate of Rajaratnam, provided him with confidential information learned during board calls and in other aspects of his duties on the Goldman and P&G boards. Rajaratnam used the inside information to trade on behalf of some of Galleon’s hedge funds, or shared the information with others at his firm who then traded on it ahead of public announcements by the firms. The insider trading by Rajaratnam and others generated more than $18 million in illicit profits and loss avoidance. Gupta was at the time a direct or indirect investor in at least some of these Galleon hedge funds, and had other potentially lucrative business interests with Rajaratnam. (press release continues below CNBC News Report)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GS-xebO85k
The SEC has previously charged Rajaratnam and others in the widespread insider trading scheme involving the Galleon hedge funds.
“Gupta was honored with the highest trust of leading public companies, and he betrayed that trust by disclosing their most sensitive and valuable secrets,” said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Directors who violate the sanctity of board room confidences for private gain will be held to account for their illegal actions.”
In the order that institutes administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings against Gupta, the SEC’s Division of Enforcement alleges that, while a member of Goldman’s Board of Directors, Gupta tipped Rajaratnam about Berkshire Hathaway’s $5 billion investment in Goldman and Goldman’s upcoming public equity offering before that information was publicly announced on Sept. 23, 2008. Gupta called Rajaratnam immediately after a special telephonic meeting at which Goldman’s Board considered and approved Berkshire’s investment in Goldman Sachs and the public equity offering. Within a minute after the Gupta-Rajaratnam call and just minutes before the close of the markets, Rajaratnam arranged for Galleon funds to purchase more than 175,000 Goldman shares. Rajaratnam later informed another participant in the scheme that he received the tip on which he traded only minutes before the market close. Rajaratnam caused the Galleon funds to liquidate their Goldman holdings the following day after the information became public, making illicit profits of more than $900,000.
The SEC’s Division of Enforcement alleges that Gupta also illegally disclosed to Rajaratnam inside information about Goldman Sachs’s positive financial results for the second quarter of 2008. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein called Gupta and various other Goldman outside directors on June 10, when the company’s financial performance was significantly better than analysts’ consensus estimates. Blankfein knew the earnings numbers and discussed them with Gupta during the call. Between that night and the following morning, there was a flurry of calls between Gupta and Rajaratnam. Shortly after the last of these calls and within minutes after the markets opened on June 11, Rajaratnam caused certain Galleon funds to purchase more than 5,500 out-of-the-money Goldman call options and more than 350,000 Goldman shares. Rajaratnam liquidated these positions on or around June 17, when Goldman made its quarterly earnings announcement. These transactions generated illicit profits of more than $13.6 million for the Galleon funds.
The Division of Enforcement further alleges that Gupta tipped Rajaratnam with confidential information that he learned during a board posting call about Goldman’s impending negative financial results for the fourth quarter of 2008. The call ended after the close of the market on October 23, with senior executives informing the board of the company’s financial situation. Mere seconds after the board call, Gupta called Rajaratnam, who then arranged for certain Galleon funds to begin selling their Goldman holdings shortly after the financial markets opened the following day until the funds finished selling off their holdings, which had consisted of more than 120,000 shares. In discussing trading and market information that day with another participant in the insider trading scheme, Rajaratnam explained that while Wall Street expected Goldman Sachs to earn $2.50 per share, he had heard the prior day from a Goldman Sachs board member that the company was actually going to lose $2 per share. As a result of Rajaratnam’s trades based on the inside information that Gupta provided, the Galleon funds avoided losses of more than $3 million.
Gupta served as a Goldman board member from November 2006 to May 2010, and has been serving on Procter & Gamble’s board since 2007.
As it pertains to insider trades by the Galleon funds in the securities of Procter & Gamble, the Division of Enforcement alleges that Gupta illegally disclosed to Rajaratnam inside information about the company financial results for the quarter ending December 2008. Gupta participated in a telephonic meeting of P&G’s Audit Committee at 9 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2009, to discuss the planned release of P&G’s quarterly earnings the next day. A draft of the earnings release, which had been mailed to Gupta and the other committee members two days before the meeting, indicated that P&G’s expected organic sales would be less than previously publicly predicted. Gupta called Rajaratnam in the early afternoon on January 29, and Rajaratnam shortly afterward advised another participant in the insider trading conspiracy that he had learned from a contact on P&G’s board that the company’s organic sales growth would be lower than expected. Galleon funds then sold short approximately 180,000 P&G shares, making illicit profits of more than $570,000.
The Division of Enforcement alleges that by engaging in the misconduct described in the SEC’s order, Gupta willfully violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The administrative proceedings will determine what relief, if any, is in the public interest against Gupta, including disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest, financial penalties, an officer or director bar, and other remedial relief.
Sanjay Wadhwa, Jason Friedman and John Henderson – members of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit in New York – together with Diego Brucculeri and James D’Avino of the New York Regional Office conducted the agency’s investigation, which is continuing. The SEC’s litigation effort will be led by Kevin McGrath and Valerie Szczepanik of the New York Regional Office.
To read more click HERE
UPDATE X1 – From Taibbi’s recent article –Rajat Gupta and Goldman Sachs: SEC After Big Fish?
“I’ve been getting a lot of calls about the recent decision by the SEC to pursue insider trading charges against Rajat Gupta, a Goldman Sachs board member who was also the former head of McKinsey, one of the most important corporate consulting firms in the world.
It’s been very interesting to watch the media reaction to this case. The spin, overwhelmingly, has been that this is proof that the SEC is more serious than ever. Business Week came out with an article whose headline blared, “The SEC Goes After Big Game.” CNBC’s take was “Rajat Gupta: Bigger than Madoff?” I’m sure by the time this news cycle ends, Rajat Gupta will be the single most important figure in the history of Wall Street.
There’s no doubt that Gupta is a big fish and this is a good case. The evidence is remarkable and is eerily similar to the non-case that was non-made against Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack years ago. In that case, a hedgie named Art Samberg bought the hell out of a company called Heller Capital shortly after a call from Mack, who had just had a meeting with CSFB, Heller’s investment banker, which was in a position to know that Heller was about the bought by GE.”
Rolling Stone, by Matt Taibbi, Rajat Gupta and Goldman Sachs: SEC After Big Fish?
AND
From Business Insider – Lloyd Blankfein Might Testify in the [upcoming] Galleon Trial
Lloyd Blankfein might testify as a government witness at Raj Rajaratnam’s criminal trial, the Wall Street Journal reported.Rajaratnam’s long-awaited criminal trial begins next week. The former Galleon chief faces a series of insider trading charges including 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy.