4 Rogue Traders Who Lost Billions

4 Rogue Traders Who Lost Billions

Zurich-based banking giant UBS announced in September that a rogue trader caused massive losses that ultimately totaled $2.3 billion. London police arrested 31-year-old Adoboli, a trader at the bank's exchange-traded fund desk. UBS CEO Oswald Grübel resigned later that month. Adoboli is due to enter a plea later this month. He faces up to 10 years in prison, based on sentencing guidelines.

Kerviel's appeal trial: “He was not alone”

Kerviel's appeal trial: “He was not alone”

Suspense was supreme today, in the stifling heat of the Paris Court of Appeal. Sporting a walking stick for the last couple of days because of back pains, the French rogue trader's lawyer, David Koubbi, actually showed up in the afternoon with a black eye – resulting from an assault by a motorcyclist...Though he assured it had nothing to do with the current case, was it going to be a symbol of what is to come for the defense?  More seriously, was Koubbi going to be able to plead? Nobody knew.  In any case, Koubbi's young deputy started, focusing on definitions and jurisprudence, as he tried to demonstrate that Kerviel couldn't, in fact, be found guilty of breach of trust, computer abuse and forgery, as he had been in 2010. Or at least, he was going to instill doubt. “And if there is reasonable doubt, our client has to be acquitted,” he said. He gave a couple of examples of “reasonable doubt”.

New for Traders: Week ending June 29

New for Traders: Week ending June 29

OptionsCity Software announced that it has signed an agreement to integrate with YellowJacket, an advanced communication platform operated by IntercontinentalExchange designed to meet the needs of traders and brokers in the derivative markets. OptionsCity’s pricing and theoretical values will be displayed within ICE’s YellowJacket interface beginning in the third quarter of 2012.

Best Paid Hedge Fund Managers

Best Paid Hedge Fund Managers - Businessweek


Bloomberg’s Sara Eisen reports on the top five hedge fund managers. She reports on Bloomberg Televisions "Money Moves."

The Lone Tweeter of Deutsche Bank

The Lone Tweeter of Deutsche Bank - Businessweek

Ted Tobiason, Deutsche Bank’s (DB) head of equity capital markets for the technology industry, is doing something that would get most investment bankers fired: tweeting about work. He’s the only investment banker authorized by the German firm to have a business-related Twitter account. While he’s no Ashton Kutcher (who has 9.6 million followers) Tobiason has attracted more than 100, including executives at Silicon Valley startups. His first tweet, which went up in January, predicted that there would be more than 40 initial public offerings by technology companies this year. “I want venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to know that our bankers love technology, that we are evangelists and not mercenaries,” says Tobiason, 43, who is based in San Francisco. “Tweeting is a way to show that we are part of the game and that we understand the changes in technology and we are using them.”

The Hedge Fund That Beat Paulson and Soros

The Hedge Fund That Beat Paulson and Soros - Businessweek

Hedge fund managers are measured by two things: the size of their fund, and how much they earn for investors. Since 2009, Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates has been the biggest hedge fund. According to a Feb. 29 report by Leveraged Capital Holdings (LCH), a British fund of funds, Dalio has now earned more money for clients than any other fund manager, ever.  Bridgewater’s Pure Alpha fund, which Dalio launched in 1975, made $13.8 billion in 2011, bringing its total lifetime gains to $35.8 billion. That vaults Dalio over George Soros and John Paulson for career fund earnings. Soros is the billionaire investor legendary for making $1 billion in a single day in 1992 by shorting the pound—giving him a colorful reputation for “breaking the Bank of England.” When he retired last summer, that froze his Quantum Endowment Fund’s total lifetime net gains at $31.2 billion since its launch in 1973.

John Paulson's Very Bad Year

John Paulson's Very Bad Year - Businessweek

John Paulson, the founder of Paulson & Co., one of the world’s largest hedge funds, has close-cut black hair, dark eyes, and a soft voice. There’s a fuss when he arrives, befitting a man who made one of the biggest fortunes in Wall Street history, as his general counsel and PR consultant jostle for seats next to him. Paulson’s decision to buy credit-default insurance against billions of dollars of subprime mortgages before the market collapsed in 2007 earned him almost $4 billion personally and transformed him from an obscure money manager into a financial legend. Then came the kind of disastrous run that can unmake a career.  In 2011 he lost billions.