Naval enthusiast Paul Singer of Elliott Management and secretive Mexican financier David Martinez are still battling in court, according to The New York Times. Mr. Martinez is said to have a $140 million painting by Jackson Pollock in his Time Warner Center apartment, but no one is willing to stake their name on it. Also unconfirmed: Mr. Singer has plans to squeeze a 100-foot tall sailing ship into a giant glass bottle.
Which is to say, a court in Ghana ruled in favor of Mr. Singer yesterday, affirming the hedge fund manager’s right to seize a training ship owned by the Argentinean navy over unpaid sovereign bonds. The Elliott Management affiliate contesting the issue is believed to be asking $20 million to return the three-masted frigate.
When you say not-nice things about people, they tend to say not-nice things about you, at any rate, that’s been the case for Greg Smith, noted ping pong enthusiast and author of the forthcoming memoir, Why I Left Goldman Sachs. With the book set to come out next week, some Goldman bankers chatted up the Financial Times, telling the paper that until shortly before Mr. Smith’s resigned on the op-ed page of The New York Times, he’d seemed more concerned with how much money he was making, and less interested in what he later labeled Goldman’s toxic culture.
In other news, 99 percent of the times Goldman bankers used the word “muppet” they were referring to last year’s movie, again, according to the FT.
Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein would pay higher taxes if it meant he didn’t have to read Mr. Smith’s book, or you know, if it would reduce the national debt or something.
JPMorgan said third-quarter profit rose 34 percent from a year ago as revenue from mortgage-lending rose.
The firm’s chief financial officer Doug Braunstein is considering a new role at the bank, according to Bloomberg. Head of regulatory affairs and former chief risk officer Barry Zubrow was said last week to be retiring at the end of the year.
Morgan Stanley and IKB are being sued for selling mortgage-backed securities that quickly soured, turnabout for IKB, which has often been on the other side of mortgage lawsuits.
Brian Moynihan is still planning on letting go 30,000 employees.
Larry Ellison may be bidding on sports and entertainment giant Anschultz Entertainment Group, according to Reuters.
Alexander Rekeda, a former trader at Mizuho Financial Group, was the rare distinction being charged over two separate derivatives deals he structured in the run-up to the financial crisis.
