Category Archives: Regulations and regulators

John Helmer: Ukraine Readies Itself for War When No One Wants to Pay for It

The IMF is finding it hard to put enough lipstick on the pig of financing Ukraine.

MSNBC’s Egalitarian Krystal Ball, and Her Husband Jonathan Dariyanani, Star of Numerous International Pump and Dumps

A shallow dive into the financial dealings of Krystal Ball of MSNBC and her husband Jonathan Dariyanani

The TPP: Toward Absolutist Capitalism

The TPP implies a form of absolute rule and enshrines capitalism as a principle of jurisprudence.

How Pending “Trade” Deals Would Undermine Zoning and Local Land Use Rules

A key principle of land use in the United States is that homeowners can often veto new buildings on nearby land that other people own. A trade agreement that’s currently in the works could have a huge impact on that long-established system of local control.

Elizabeth Warren Throws Down Gauntlet, Calls for Genuine Financial Reform

Elizabeth Warren makes a bold call for wide-ranging, serious financial reform.

“God Damn the Pusher Man” – Especially when Enabled by the FDA Revolving Door

Lambert here: Here, as generally, “the revolving door” seems a barely adequate metaphor for the pervasiveness of corruption involved; after all, the doors constantly revolve in a house of ill-fame, and it’s the nature of the house itself, not the wear and tear on the hinges of its doors, that is at issue.

Belvedere Management: Massive Criminal Enterprise or Defamed Fund Manager?

David Marchant says Belvedere Management is a “Massive Criminal Enterprise”. Has he gone mad, or hit the investigative journo’s jackpot?

The SEC’s Andrew Bowden to Leave the Agency

From the SEC this morning:

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Andrew Bowden, Director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), will leave the agency at the end of April to return to the private sector.

Don Quijones: “Bad Bank” Mania Spreads in Europe

Yves here. I’m not as negative about “bad banks” as Don Quijones is. He does mention the positive result in Sweden, and I hope Swedish Lex will pipe up in comments to add more insight. But the Spanish case is a horrorshow and others in Europe are troubling.

SEC Starts Issuing Wells Notices to Private Equity Firms (Updated)

We tweeted last week:

Rumor from a private equity source: "Heard a bunch of alts firms got Wells notices from the SEC"

— Yves Smith (@yvessmith) April 2, 2015

Our source was correct.

Presentation Shows Private Equity Investors Knowingly Sign Contracts With Waivers of Fiduciary Duty, Other Terms Stacked Against Them

We’ve pointed out that private equity investors, known in the trade as limited partners, enter into agreements with private equity firms that do a terrible job of protecting the investors’ interests. That sad reality is contrary to the urban legend propagated by the general partners, that the agreements are negotiated, that the limited partners are sophisticated and understand full well what they are getting into.

The evidence on the ground strongly suggests otherwise. Today, we’ll go through a document presented by a top lawyer for limited partners that shows how the general partners continue to skew the agreements even more in their favor, yet the outside legal guns fail to beat back these terms.

SEC Regulatory Capture Scandal: Andrew Bowden’s Fawning Over Private Equity Was No Mistake

Two weeks ago, we discussed how the head of the SEC’s examination unit, Andrew Bowden, gushed about the private equity industry at a conference at Stanford Law School, including joking about how he’s told his son to work in the industry.

Defenders of Bowden might argue that he had the government official version of a bad hair day, attempting to inject some levity in a dry conference and having the remarks go wildly off the rails.

But it turns out that Bowden has been making the same type of statements, save the “Gee it would be great for Cole to work in private equity” part since at least last fall.

Tom Adams: The Ocwen Meltdown: When a Company Discloses Conflicts of Interest, You Should Believe Them

By Tom Adams, securitization professional for over 20 years and partner at Paykin, Krieg & Adams, LLP. You can follow him on Twitter at @advisoryA It’s been a while since I wrote here about Ocwen Financial Corporation http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/02/tom-adams-ocwens-servicing-meltdown-proves-failure-of-obamas-mortgage-settlements.html , the large non-bank mortgage servicer, but things haven’t gotten any better for the company or its […]

Central Banks Warn: Investors May Get Crushed When They All Run for the Exits

This post illustrates how remarkably short investors’ memories are. Or they may be betting that if they have a big enough hissy fit when monetary authorities raise rates, as they did during the taper tantrum of 2013, that central banks will lose their nerve.