Barry Alpert wrote:
> Last evening while watching television I caught the end of an interview with someone who supplied
> outrageous details about the "managerial behaviour" of the CEO of Bear Stearns. Can anyone refer
> us to the most revealing tidbits available online?
>
> Barry
>
I don't know about Greenberg's personal behavior, but he has a curious
habit of saving his own financial ass at the expense of investors.
Notabene:
http://www.thestreet.com/funds/followmoney/10372963.html
One of my former "neighbors" across the river, John Mulheren, had the
good timing to drop dead a few years ago while under a *second*
investigation by the SEC for insider trading and other financial
improprieties. His brokerage?--Bear Wagner, a subsidiary of Bear
Stearns, set up to contain larger corporate liability.
Investment banking really *does* have ethical standards. Regulated
industries can be destroyed by an SEC prosecution. Given the choice of
being pursued by the IRS or the SEC, I'd take the IRS every time. That
sort of scrutiny keeps people very honest in their dealings. Morgan
Stanley's chief counsel today is the guy who prosecuted Milken and
Boesky back in the 1980s.
It's curious that four of the top executives in Bear Stearns cashed out
for scads of money as far back as 2006. Did they see something coming?
Did they help deliver the baby? Nothing would surprise me. The
"industry" has always been hard-case even at its best, and Bear is
harder than that. They are not known as a "white shoe" firm like Morgan
Stanley or Brown Brothers Harriman. They're famous as jungle fighters
with financial bayonets in their teeth. Someone described them as a
bunch of cigar-chomping guys (yes, guys) with suspenders.
Oh...In the late '90s I knew a VP at Morgan who was fired for
unprofessional behavior. He was later fired by Bear for expensing an
$800 bottle of wine. Some people never learn.
Ken
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Kenneth Wolman http://bestiaire.typepad.com
Abuse of power comes as no surprise--Jenny Holzer
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