Monthly Archives: June 2012

“Why is it that defendants remember how much they love their family after they committed a crime that puts that whole relationship in jeopardy?”

U.S. Federal Ditrict Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff during the sentencing hearing for Adam Smith, Harvard MBA.  Mr. Smith was a portfolio manager at the Galleon Group hedge fund and turned state’s evidence.  He received probation.  Raj Rajaratnam, Mr. Smith’s … Continue reading

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“Everyone cheats. I thought ‘I can make this back.’ I wasn’t worried in the least. I was a good trader. I was a workaholic.”

Former hedge fund manager, Samuel Israel III, reflecting on his fraud – a $450 million Ponzi scheme that resulted in a 22-year prison sentence.  They always think they can keep things going until the news is better.

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“In those days, it was very spontaneous and casual, and it did not seem really wrong.” and “I’m surprised they remember.”

Tek Young Lin, 88,  former English teacher at Horace Mann School in New York, confessing that he had sex with his young students during the 1960s and 1970s.  Makes you want to home school, eh?  Get this man some help with … Continue reading

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In the living-well-is-the-best-revenge department — Karen Klein, the taunted school bus aide

The 13-year-old brutes mocked, taunted, and jeered 69-year-old school bus aide, Karen Klein.  Their profanity would make a longshoreman blush.  For 10 minutes, the “utes” did their worst.  Mrs. Klein sat and took it in silence.  Great shall be her … Continue reading

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“Firms that made wrong decisions should fail. You shouldn’t rescue them. And once that’s established as a principle, I think the market recognizes that it makes sense. Everything works much better when wrong decisions are punished and good decisions make you rich. That’s not the way the world has been going in recent years.”

Economist Anna Schwarz, co-author with Milton Friedman of, “A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960, who died June 21, 2012, at age 96.  One more quote, ” The basic problem for the markets is that [uncertainty] that the balance sheets … Continue reading

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“Why is it I need to spend hours every day shuffling cash and loans from entity to entity?”

August 2011 e-mail from Edith O’Brien, former assistant treasurer at MF Global, to a fellow employee who insisted MF Global had “plenty of cash.”  Ms. O’Brien’s responsibilities included monitoring account transfers to be certain the company was not using customer funds … Continue reading

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“You are a dirty, rotten scoundrel.”

Jaime Escalona, an investor in Stanford who lost his money, speaking to R. Allen Stanford, founder of the now defunct Stanford investment firm ($7 billion lost), at Mr. Stanford’s sentencing hearing.  Mr. Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in prison … Continue reading

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Those Frontline Employees at Chase and MF Global

The very best information about what’s happening in any organization rests with the employees on the frontline.  If you want to zero in on accounting fraud, pay a visit to the loading dock.  If the employees have a 32-day month … Continue reading

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How Come the Wife Didn’t Mention It?

GM had a little difficulty with an undisclosed conflict of interest.  The company awarded a $600,000 contract to ad agency, Mother New York, for promotion of the centennial celebration of Chevrolets.  However, Pernilla Ammann is the chief operating officer at … Continue reading

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