The Old Bathroom Break Trick

Allianz Cooperator Stephen Bond-Nelson Used Bathroom Break to Run Out on SEC

A former portfolio manager for the Allianz SE unit that agreed to pay $5.8 billion over the implosion of its hedge funds in 2020 saw no escape from the questioning of the SEC’s lawyers.

So Stephen Bond-Nelson excused himself to use the bathroom and never returned.

At least, not until he decided to plead guilty and cooperate in the investigation of the fraud.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler To Visit Appropriations Subcommittee To Discuss Budget: “The Gold Standard For Capital Markets”

Maintaining the gold standard comes with a cost and the SEC is submitting a budget request for operations of $2.149 billion, an 8 percent increase over FY 2022. Gensler believes this is no time to “scrimp” on resources as the complexity of markets is growing – not receding.

Disgraced hedge fund tycoon Phil Falcone raising money for crypto TV network

According to people familiar with Falcone’s pitch, the Minnesota native believes the world needs a 24-hour network exclusively devoted to covering cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and Web3 — and he wants to be the one to make it happen.

The nascent network’s website is scant on details. The only description of the service says it is “Dedicated to the digital space, Blockchain.TV is launching in the third quarter of 2022, bringing breaking news, entertainment, and trending digital activity about Crypto, Web3, and the Metaverse.

How a Trash-Talking Crypto Bro Caused a $40 Billion Crash

Mr. Kwon dismissed concerns with a taunt: “I don’t debate the poor.”

But last week, Luna and another currency that Mr. Kwon developed, TerraUSD, suffered a spectacular collapse. Their meltdowns had a domino effect on the rest of the cryptocurrency market, tanking the price of Bitcoin and accelerating the loss of $300 billion in value across the crypto economy. This week, the price of Luna remained close to zero, while TerraUSD continued to slide.

The downfall of Luna and TerraUSD offers a case study in crypto hype and who is left holding the bag when it all comes crashing down. Mr. Kwon’s rise was enabled by respected financiers who were willing to back highly speculative financial products. Some of those investors sold their Luna and TerraUSD coins early, reaping substantial profits, while retail traders now grapple with devastating losses.

Terraform Labs’ legal team resigns after UST collapse

A person familiar with the matter told The Block that legal operations are now being handled by outside counsel. The LinkedIn profiles of Terraform Labs’ general counsel Marc Goldich, chief corporate counsel Lawrence Florio, and chief litigation and regulatory counsel Noah Axler show that all three stopped working for the company in May — all after less than a year at the company.

Elon Musk Does Not Care About Spam Bots 

I think it is important to be clear here that Musk is lying. The spam bots are not why he is backing away from the deal, as you can tell from the fact that the spam bots are why he did the deal. He has produced no evidence at all that Twitter’s estimates are wrong, and certainly not that they are materially wrong or made in bad faith. (Musk can only get out of the deal if Twitter’s filings are wrong in a way that would cause a “material adverse effect” on Twitter, which is vanishingly unlikely.) His own supposed methodology for counting spam bots is laughable. Yesterday Twitter’s chief executive officer, Parag Agrawal, tweeted a thread explaining in general terms how Twitter estimates that fake accounts represent fewer than 5% of its count of active users, and how this analysis can’t be easily replicated by outsiders (because they don’t know which accounts are real, and also because they don’t know which accounts Twitter counts as daily active users). It seems clear that Agrawal’s thoughtful answer is basically correct. Musk responded with a poop emoji.

SEC Charges Allianz Global Investors and Three Former Senior Portfolio Managers with Multibillion Dollar Securities Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today charged Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC (AGI US) and three former senior portfolio managers with a massive fraudulent scheme that concealed the immense downside risks of a complex options trading strategy they called “Structured Alpha.” AGI US marketed and sold the strategy to approximately 114 institutional investors, including pension funds for teachers, clergy, bus drivers, engineers, and other individuals.  After the COVID-19 market crash of March 2020 exposed the fraudulent scheme, the strategy lost billions of dollars as a result of AGI US and the portfolio managers’ misconduct.  AGI US has agreed to pay billions of dollars as part of an integrated, global resolution, including more than $1 billion to settle SEC charges and together with its parent, Allianz SE, over $5 billion in restitution to victims.