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UpInArms Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-10-09 10:36 PM
Original message
Pequot trades raised many warnings: report
Source: Reuters

BOSTON (Reuters) - Pequot Capital Management Inc, once a prominent hedge fund firm, has been named dozens of times in private reports that alerted U.S. financial regulators to possible insider trading or other misconduct, according to Bloomberg News.

Citing agency records from exchange watchdogs, the news agency reported that 36 reports had flagged possible insider trading involving shares of Google Inc (GOOG.O), Cox Communications Inc COXET.UL, International Securities Holdings Inc, Premcor Inc and dozens of other companies.

Four reports indicated possible manipulation and four were labeled "other," Bloomberg reported.

"The numbers would indicate they had trading that closely preceded 36 material events," Bradley Bennett, a partner at Baker Botts in Washington, told Bloomberg.

"Referrals are very strong at identifying accounts that are worth additional scrutiny," Bloomberg cited Bennett, a former SEC investigator who focused on insider-trading cases, as saying. "Not all referrals result in enforcement actions."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE57953020090810?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews



http://www.whistleblower.org/template/page.cfm?page_id=179

In 2006, Gary Aguirre was involved in a flurry of political and media attention following a front page New York Times article detailing Aguirre’s investigation of a politically-sensitive insider-trading case. Aguirre is a former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawyer who was dismissed by the agency following his attempt to subpoena John Mack, now the CEO of Morgan Stanley, in an insider trading investigation of Pequot Capital Management, a leading hedge fund. Hedge funds are unregulated private investment funds that typically engage in unconventional investment strategies, such as short-selling. Mack briefly served as the chairman of Pequot before being hired by Morgan Stanley as their CEO. Click here to read the New York Times article! Click here to read GAP's original statement!

In September 2005, Aguirre was fired 11 days after being awarded a two-step pay increase. Since coming to GAP, Aguirre testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled “Hedge Fund and Analysts: How Independent Is Their Relationship?” At the hearing, Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa) expressed his outrage at SEC attempts to silence Aguirre, announcing his commitment to investigate further. Aguirre has provided documentary evidence to Congress which support his assertion that Mack should have been subpoenaed to take his testimony.

Aguirre’s battle dates back to June 2005, when he suddenly encountered resistance at the SEC during the course of his investigation of Pequot. A $7 billion hedge fund, Pequot’s CEO is Arthur J. Samberg, a long time friend of Mack. Prior to that date, Aguirre had been investigating the case for months, issuing over 90 subpoenas without obstruction.

When Aguirre recommended that Mack’s testimony be taken under oath, Aguirre was told by his supervisor that it would be difficult to obtain approval for the subpoena due to Mack’s powerful “political connections.” Over the course of the next two months, Aguirre’s supervisors refused to allow him to issue Mack a subpoena. Aguirre questioned this decision at every level up the chain of command (including SEC Chairman Christopher Cox), reporting his superior’s behavior and providing evidence supporting his subpoena request.

In a stunning reversal in the months after the New York Times story broke, the SEC interviewed Mack in connection with the insider trading investigation of Pequot, validating Aguirre’s assessment.

...more...
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sofa king Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-10-09 11:36 PM
Response to Original message
1. And the bleeding continues.
As most of us here now know or at least suspect, the Bush Administration acted criminally whenever they had the chance. We would have to decriminalize marijuana to free up enough space for the Republicans who ought to be in jail right now.

That's never gonna happen.
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glitch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-11-09 07:13 AM
Response to Reply #1
3. We live in hope. nt
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lenofus Donating Member (1 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-11-09 06:04 PM
Response to Reply #1
4. Where were you?
A bunch of us have been fighting this battle for years. We always wondered where the left was. There was no one to help us. Now, you dog Republicans? While they are no better than democrats, the dems are in this up to their necks. I would suggest you research the donor base for Christopher Dodd, Chuck Schumer, actually, any Dem from Ct., NY area.

But don't break this fight down in a partisan struggle. Money and greed have no political party. They share equally among all participants.

If you would like to help, and I hope you do, go to "Deepcapture.com", study up, and weigh in. But leave the politics home. The problems this nation faces are huge, have no politics, and could doom us to a world wide depression. It's possible they already have.
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sofa king Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-11-09 06:09 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. Welcome to DU, lenofus.
Where was I? Why, I was on Capitol Hill, watching Jack Abramoff steal my clients and then rip them off. It all started on January 20, 2001. I did it until it broke my heart.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/sofa%20king/81

It's a Republican crime. Don't kid yourself, because you're sure as hell not going to get away with kidding us.
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UpInArms Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-11-09 06:33 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. well, let's see -
in the 70s I was out there attempting to get signatures on a NOW petition before RayGun was sworn into office.

Where were you?

in the late 80s I was cleaning up the banking mess that was RayGun/Bush fostered and Republican in name and title

see Neil Bush and Silverado

Where were you?

In the 90s I was fighting the Contract on America and the dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine.

Where were you?

I could go on and on and on, but what's the point?

You obviously were asleep on mama's lap.
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HCE SuiGeneris Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-11-09 12:48 AM
Response to Original message
2. So many criminals, so much corruption, so few convictions...
:banghead:

I cannot bear what this country represents.
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depakid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-11-09 06:46 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. The Obama administration certainly hasn't requited itself well at all on this front
Edited on Tue Aug-11-09 06:47 PM by depakid
If Nader were to say tweedledum and tweedledee- he'd absolutely right. Even Bush I did far better job than this after the S&L debacle.
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UpInArms Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-11-09 06:58 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. oh, that's right, Neil and Jeb both served time in the Fed's big house, didn't they?
:rofl:

The Sleazy World of Jeb Bush

In yet another scam, Jeb and a partner used a frontman to wangle a $4.5 million federal loan to buy an office building. When their shill went belly-up, Daddy's federal government obligingly revalued the prime Miami real estate at $500,000. Jeb and pal coughed up that chump change --and kept the building for themselves: $4 million of pure gravy.

Now with just one more step, this mobbed-up, money-grubbing absolutist will have the whole world in his hands. "Right and wrong" mean nothing to such big-time operators; power is their only truth, their only god.


The Bush family and the S&L Scandal

Neil, George Jr., George Sr., and Jeb Bush

The Savings and Loan industry had been experiencing major problems through the late 60s and 70s due to rising inflation and rising interest rates. Because of this there was a move in the 1970s to replace the role of S&L institutions with banks.

In the early 1980s, under Reagan, regulatory changes took place that gave the S&L industry new powers and for the first time in history measures were taken to increase the profitability of S&Ls at the expense of promoting home ownership.

A history of the S&L situation can be found here:

http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/s&l/

What is important to note about the S&L scandal is that it was the largest theft in the history of the world and US tax payers are who was robbed.

The problems occurred in the Savings and Loan industry as they relate to theft because the industry was deregulated under the Reagan/Bush administration and restrictions were eased on the industry so much that abuse and misuse of funds became easy, rampant, and went unchecked.

Additional facts on the Savings and Loan Scandal can be found here:

http://www.inthe80s.com/sandl.shtml

There are several ways in which the Bush family plays into the Savings and Loan scandal, which involves not only many members of the Bush family but also many other politicians that are still in office and still part of the Bush Jr. administration today. Jeb Bush, George Bush Sr., and his son Neil Bush have all been implicated in the Savings and Loan Scandal, which cost American tax payers over $1.4 TRILLION dollars (note that this is about one quarter of our national debt).

Between 1981 and 1989, when George Bush finally announced that there was a Savings and Loan Crisis to the world, the Reagan/Bush administration worked to cover up Savings and Loan problems by reducing the number and depth of examinations required of S&Ls as well as attacking political opponents who were sounding early alarms about the S&L industry. Industry insiders were aware of significant S&L problems as early 1986 that they felt would require a bailout. This information was kept from the media until after Bush had won the 1988 elections.

Jeb Bush defaulted on a $4.56 million loan from Broward Federal Savings in Sunrise, Florida. After federal regulators closed the S&L, the office building that Jeb used the $4.56 million to finance was reappraised by the regulators at $500,000, which Bush and his partners paid. The taxpayers had to pay back the remaining 4 million plus dollars.

Neil Bush was the most widely targeted member of the Bush family by the press in the S&L scandal. Neil became director of Silverado Savings and Loan at the age of 30 in 1985. Three years later the institution was belly up at a cost of $1.6 billion to tax payers to bail out.

The basic actions of Neil Bush in the S&L scandal are as follows:

Neil received a $100,000 "loan" from Ken Good, of Good International, with no obligation to pay any of the money back.

Good was a large shareholder in JNB Explorations, Neil Bush's oil-exploration company.

Neil failed to disclose this conflict-of-interest when loans were given to Good from Silverado, because the money was to be used in joint venture with his own JNB. This was in essence giving himself a loan from Silverado through a third party.

Neil then helped Silverado S&L approve Good International for a $900,000 line of credit.

Good defaulted on a total $32 million in loans from Silverado.

During this time Neil Bush did not disclose that $3 million of the $32 million that Good was defaulting on was actually for investment in JNB, his own company.

Good subsequently raised Bush's JNB salary from $75,000 to $125,000 and granted him a $22,500 bonus.

Neil Bush maintained that he did not see how this constituted a conflict of interest.

Neil approved $106 million in Silverado loans to another JNB investor, Bill Walters.

Neil also never formally disclosed his relationship with Walters and Walters also defaulted on his loans, all $106 million of them.
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depakid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-11-09 07:28 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. There were TONS of people prosecuted
and not just the Bernie Madoff's.

Your argument above shows just how pathetic this administration's record is thus far. Even Bush I handled matters better- and I'm sure William K. Black would agree.
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UpInArms Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-11-09 08:25 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. I'm not certain Edwin Gray would agree
:shrug:
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