Comments on: Did Goldman Traders Manipulate Bear, Lehman Stock?

By: arplayer2k

arplayer2k — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:36:00 +0000

Thank you for a very interesting read. I am trying to find as much information on this matter for some kind of writing I will be doing later on this year. Either an article, or an expose on the matter. I find the events surrounding the recent BK of Lehman even more strange and screaming to be looked into.

Do you have any further information on any possible Paulsen / GS connection to the collapse of Lehman? Whether it is naked short selling, manipulating stock pricing, insider trading, Paulsen & the stake of GS in all of this, I would be enlightened to look at it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:32:00 +0000

Come on, Yves. BSC was run by a pot-smoking, disengaged CEO who would rather play bridge than take the time to understand the “assets” on his balance sheet. What a joke that GS now is being held to the fire. And I dislike GS as much as anybody else.

So the Fed ponies up $29B to backstop JPM’s purchase of BSC, yet we now contend with a witch-hunt for those rumor-mongering traders who were keen on spreading lies and deceit about the lovely paper on BSC’s books. Riiiight, that makes sense.

Other than that I love your blog! So there.

By: AnoninCA

AnoninCA — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:48:00 +0000

Try again:
link to goldman/bear post

By: AnoninCA

AnoninCA — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:42:00 +0000

Yves, do you remember this story?

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/4/wall_street_shocker_goldman_blew_up_bear_stearns_

By: Alleygator

Alleygator — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:31:00 +0000

If Goldman Sachs spread negative rumors about Bear Stearns, they did people a favor. Bear Stearns is bankrupt! Is prescience the same as manipulation?

A lot of people have been spreading negative rumors about the financial sector, which has taken huge and ever-mounting losses and has little hope of recovery. Perhaps the SEC should investigate the RGE Monitor?

By: Dave Raithel

Dave Raithel — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:00:00 +0000

I quit giving my attention to Ben Stein since he’s got himself engaged with that surreal “Darwinism implies the holocaust” nonsense, but for a time many months ago I amused myself following his “cloth coat” old school Republican commentaries about what Wall Street Traders were doing to the country. I seem to recall that he said the kind of behavior suspected here was the behavior of people at … well, Goldman Sachs in particular. I don’t mean he was refering to this particular episode, but that he claimed that some specific minority of people can and do manipulate markets, and that, in turn, is some (or much?) of what’s got us to here. I also recall that he was well upbraided for making such assertions, both here and at Felix Salmon’s blog…. Maybe I should just skip Ben’s bad philosophy of science and follow his lead on what he does know: How people with money often really make it…

By: Richard Kline

Richard Kline — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:03:00 +0000

So Yves, my reaction to Blankfein’s and van Praag’s statements is _exactly_ the same as yours: “Them’s lawyer’s words!” Of course if asked ‘Did you shiv me?’ the answer is going to be, ahh, less then direct. But neither of these statements amount to “I don’t know what you’re talking about but I’ll knock a few heads together and get a straight answer,” either. I would be more inclined to see the action as GS traders talking clients out of BSC and LEH on alleged ‘proprietary information.’ Hard to catch ‘em out, but just as fatal as screaming “Fire!” in a crowded trading floor.

By: Eurobear

Eurobear — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:14:00 +0000

Does this mean we'll see Quid Pro Quo for Fuld after his 'statesman' like public declaration in March of saying Lehman were not in need of Capital and were fully in control of the situation...taking the stock from low 30's to high 40's in two weeks and now when it all turns out to be lies, he is looking to blame those who called his BS by taking alternate positions.

Stocks are being manipulated on a daily if not minute by minute basis, that is what the market is. If you think its a clean room environment with no spin or propaganda then you have never read a Qtrly report.

If Lehman were not weak and vulnerable due to a weak balance sheet they would not be in the current position of a stock price in the low teens. Surely this is the market in action in its purest form.

Dick Fuld, you chose your career and your employment. Stop whining like a child and get on with it.