Financial Fraud or the Fraud of Finance
What can be said about the corruption of the money system at this point? One thing for sure, it's a worthless appraiser of world needs. If it can't account that, what worth is it?
I do like the Sam Bankman-Fried's full court Sargent Schultz defense,
His parents’ generation knows no shame, why should he? Yves at Naked Capitalism has a nice take down of the NYT sponsored circus - talk about a lot with no shame!
Next, the FT has an amusing piece on the latest flaming crypto pyre, they don't burn long. These boys is on the run, better saddle a posse,
“Cryptocurrency investors in AAX are searching for senior executives of the exchange after its decision last month to halt withdrawals triggered a backlash among users.”
It gets better,
“The Hong Kong-headquartered crypto exchange, which once boasted 2mn users, announced with great fanfare in 2019 that it was the first digital asset exchange to use the London Stock Exchange’s trading technology.”
Wait for it,
“I started to notice there was something suspicious behind all this, so I did my own investigation,” said Mike Ong, a Singaporean financial executive who is part of the groups. “In that period when they said they were doing maintenance, a lot of core management started to delete their online presence.”
Due diligence delayed is due diligence not at all.
“In November, AAX users visited the Hong Kong offices only to find them deserted. Ong visited the exchange’s Singapore co-working space but there were no employees working.”
Funny, funny stuff.
The youths haven’t been starting something new, no such thing as financial fraud innovation. It’s one of the world’s oldest games.
Blackstone private equity seems to be looking more crypto-like, FT reports,
“Blackstone has limited withdrawals from its $125bn real estate investment fund following a surge in redemption requests, as investors clamour to get their hands on cash and concerns grow about the long-term health of the commercial property market.”
And the punchline,
“The fund’s net asset value has been marked up by more than 9 per cent in the 12 months to the end of September, a dramatic divergence from public markets where real estate investment trusts have declined sharply in value. Vanguard’s publicly listed real estate index fund has declined more than 22 per cent this year.”
Well, now we know why the Fed’s making sounds of rolling over on their back, belly up, and paws stuck up in the air.
In Thomas Mitchell's excellent history of Athenian democracy, he writes of Solon's intent for moving Athens to democracy, particularly in regards to judicial reforms and keeping power accountable,
“Solon vehemently excoriated the depravity of the elite and its irresponsible use of power. He was clearly determined to remedy the abuses. He sought an active citizenry whose engagement in politics would help combat the factionalism of the nobility. Above all, he sought a system of justice that would end the crooked judgments of a corrupt ruling class.”
Amen