Up & Down the Street

Steven A. Cohen

The Practical Magic of Hedge Funder Steven A. Cohen

If you’re a fan of magic, one of the most enjoyable evenings available in New York City is a wonderful little show put on by one Steve Cohen out of a suite at the Waldorf Astoria several evenings a week. Mr. Cohen, known as “the millionaires’ magician,” thrills with sleight of hand and a witty banter that evokes the old-school parlor magicians of yore. But the highlight of his show is a segment in which he tells members of the audience things about themselves that he really shouldn’t know. Go see for yourself; it’s mind-boggling. Mr. Cohen has made quite a career out of his talent—he even had a special on the History Channel last week—but he may be in the wrong line of work.

See, there’s another man named Steve Cohen who has also made quite a career out of seemingly knowing things he shouldn’t know. Call him “the billionnaire magician.” Read More

true crime

Gilberto Valle III (Facebook)

The Strange Case of NYPD Officer Gilberto Valle, Alleged Wannabe Cannibal

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced the Halloween-worthy arrest of 28-year-old NYPD officer Gilberto Valle III today. Mr. Valle, who was stationed at the 26th Precinct, has been charged with kidnapping, conspiracy and illegal use of a federal law enforcement database.

Those charges aren’t strange at all, considering the crimes were allegedly committed as part of a plot with co-conspirators to kidnap and cannibalize as many as 100 women. Read More

White Collar

madoff image

Madoff Fraud Dated Back to 1970s, U.S. Says in New Indictment

Prosecutors filed new charges against five employees of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in documents filed today, alleging that the conspiracy to defraud investors in the firm dated to at least the early 1970s, and adding charges relating to corporate and personal loans and new tax offenses.

The superseding indictment adds new charges against Daniel Bonventre, who worked for Mr. Madoff for 40 years, eventually rising to the position of director of operations, as well as Annette Bongiorno and Joann Crupi, and brings charges against BLMIS computer programmers Jerome O’Hara and George Perez for the first time. Read More

White Collar

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Is There No Place Safe? Ex-Credit Suisse Banker Arrested in London

A former Credit Suisse banker was arrested in London today, according to The Wall Street Journal nearly six months after being indicted by U.S. prosecutors for allegedly faking data to boost end-of-year bonuses.

In February, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara charged Kareem Serageldin, a former global head of the Swiss bank’s collateralized debt obligation business, with masterminding a scheme to mismark positions in asset-backed securities, helping Mr. Serageldin and his traders meet targets linked to annual bonuses. Read More

White Collar

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Hedge Fund Manager Doug Whitman Newest Addition to Federal Pen’s Insider Trading Team

Raj Rajaratnam didn’t, nor did Rajat Gupta, nor did any of the other seven defendants to stand trial during the government’s ongoing crackdown on insider trading testify in their own defense. Whitman Capital founder Doug Whitman, accused of earning about $1 million by trading on privileged information, did, testifying to his innocence over the course Read More

Complaint box

bensam

Cardozo Law Student Benula Bensam Really Making a Summer of Rajat Gupta Case

Remember Benula Bensam? She’s the Benjamin M. Cardozo School of Law student who couldn’t land a summer internship, decided to spend her summer haunting the U.S. Southern District courthouse in downtown Manhattan. Which was going just fine, thank you, until Ms. Bensam started writing letters to Judge Jed Rakoff during the insider-trading trial of former McKinsey & Co. CEO Rajat Gupta.

That led to Ms. Bensam being summoned from the courtroom by U.S. Marshals,who instructed the eager law student that her correspondence (read the letters here) could be construed as an attempt to influence the case. At least, so go the press accounts of the incident. Read More