Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Revealed: The Dirty Tricks of Rogue Traders

From the Telegraph:

A hedge fund based in London set up a "dirty-tricks unit" to manipulate share prices and get illicit information on companies in an attempt to make millions on the stock market, an insider has revealed.

As the official hunt began for the rogue traders who tried to bring down Britain's biggest mortgage lender, HBOS, The Daily Telegraph can reveal a whistle-blower's account of how a multi-billion pound fund allegedly used illegal tactics to drive down stock prices.

Private detectives were allegedly employed to hack into executives' emails and telephone records.

Front companies were set up to allow the hedge fund traders to pose as independent researchers or journalists.

Negative information on companies was then distributed to leading investment banks in the hope that rumours would spread and some share prices would fall.

The hedge fund, which cannot be named for legal reasons, stood to make millions from "short-selling" the shares as they fell in value....MORE

That headline, "Revealed" reminded me of my two post fling with scandal headlines last year:
Darkest secrets, EXPOSED!

“Do you have a moment for the environment, sir?”
“No,” I barked as I evaded her, “I don’t!”...

Farm subsidies, EXPOSED!

Okay, I'll stop doing that.
I was at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Online searchable database last night and absorbed some 1800's newspaper style/pacing. We'll switch to Readers Digest (modern).

"What do Ken Lay, Ted Turner, Sam Donaldson and David Rockefeller all have in common?"...