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Barclays Libor Scandal: Naming Names

Posted by Larry Doyle on July 24th, 2012 8:38 AM |

When battling wildfires, firefighters will very often scorch the earth and sacrifice acreage and property as a defensive mechanism against the wildfire taking over and destroying even more valued territory.

As I review recent developments in the scandalous Libor “wildfire,” a mental image of that defensive strategy runs through my head. Why is that?

With news of pending arrests in this case, we awake this morning to see a number of individual names released by The Wall Street Journal as seemingly ring leaders and participants in this scandal.  Read the rest »


America’s Unspoken Crisis Is a “War on America”

Posted by Larry Doyle on July 23rd, 2012 7:43 AM |

Can you imagine the lengths our nation would go to address and eradicate a social situation correlated very highly with activities (including juvenile murder and rape) that land people in prison?

Can you further imagine the outcry to address this social situation if it were also highly correlated with an increased risk of suicide?

What if over and above those high correlations, this social situation was also very highly correlated with children dropping out of school? Clearly the public outcry would be earth shattering and the march on Washington would be historic in nature, no?  Read the rest »


Have Banks Become Criminal Enterprises?

Posted by Larry Doyle on July 22nd, 2012 6:41 AM |

I continue to maintain that the overwhelming percentage of people working on Wall Street are good and decent people trying to make an honest living in what has become an increasingly challenged industry.

I also maintain, and always will, that the spirit of capitalism that drives Wall Street is a necessary and vital engine if our economy and country are to recover.

I rail so hard on the failures and captures within our financial system for the very simple reason that I believe a healthy country needs healthy markets. Neither our country nor our markets are anywhere close to being healthy right now. In fact, with the news surrounding the Libor scandal taken in conjunction with word of massive money laundering within HSBC, the question begs, “Have banks become criminal enterprises?”

Read the rest »


Barclays Libor Scandal: Wake Up, America!!

Posted by Larry Doyle on July 20th, 2012 10:24 AM |

We are losing our nation and our future literally right before our eyes. WAKE UP, America!!

Who is involved in the greatest theft ever undertaken on American soil? All those involved in the scheme and scandal collectively defined as financial regulatory capture. Who are the parties to this scandal?

1. Politicians more concerned with re-election and collecting the needed campaign funding than actually pursuing the truth and principles needed to protect investors and the public at large.  Read the rest »


Peregrine Financial Fraud: What Shocks Me

Posted by Larry Doyle on July 20th, 2012 7:26 AM |

After close to four years of tracking and highlighting stories of financial frauds and accompanying regulatory failures, I am not easily shocked. The other day while reading of the news surrounding the fraud and failure of the Peregrine Financial Group in Cedar Falls, Iowa, I was shocked.

We now know the fraud at Peregrine was carried out over a 20 year time period. Excruciatingly painful for Peregrine’s customers? No doubt. But in light of all we have learned about our captured regulators, is this shocking? Regrettably, no, it is not.

Peregrine’s owner and CEO Russell Wasendorf maintains he perpetuated this fraud on his own. Is this to be believed? Not on its face, but this assertion alone does not shock me.

I “would” be shocked to think that there are not other Peregrine-type frauds out there. Why is that and what truly shocks me about this situation at Peregrine?  Read the rest »


Geithner vs Huntsman: Trash vs Truth

Posted by Larry Doyle on July 19th, 2012 10:26 AM |

I don’t know about you, but I find myself often every morning discounting much of what I read in financial periodicals as mere noise if not outright trash. Trash? Yes, trash.

In my opinion, the garbage spewed is not a function of a broken sewer line, so to speak, but very much a function of individuals and institutions working hard to disguise or pollute a situation or a reality.

In the midst of the trash, I welcome and embrace commentaries that promote the truth.

I touched both ends of this trash vs. truth spectrum in reading the Financial Times this morning. Let’s juxtapose the following:

Geithner Defends Libor Actions, in which our Treasury Secretary states: > > >
Read the rest »


My Experience with Bain

Posted by Larry Doyle on July 18th, 2012 9:07 AM |

Bain Capital.

I can not recall in my lifetime as much attention being paid to a private company during a Presidential campaign as that paid to Bain Capital this year.

While I could write more on the scandalous activity surrounding Libor or money laundering activity emanating from HSBC, I digress today to address my experience with Bain. Interestingly enough, my experience did not occur during my days on Wall Street. Bain Capital did not have any business within the market segments that I worked while on Wall Street.

Long before summer internships came into vogue, I was fortunate to gain a referral and in turn a position as a personal assistant to a senior partner at Bain and Company, the entity from which Bain Capital spun out. The experience I had prior to my senior year at Holy Cross in summer 1982 had a profound and long lasting impact on my professional career. How so?  Read the rest »


Barclays Libor Scandal: The Complicit Regulators

Posted by Larry Doyle on July 17th, 2012 12:40 PM |

Today’s Wall Street Journal lead editorial, New York Fed to Barclays: ‘Mm hmm’, concludes,

. . . if this is really the epic deceit and crime we are now reading about, then either new evidence needs to come to light, or the regulators who smiled and nodded and “Okayed” and “Mm hmmed” through the panic years are complicit with the banks now in the dock. They had ample opportunity to shut down this behavior, but nothing released by the New York Fed or the Bank of England suggests much more than a raised eyebrow at the time.

I am highly confident that there is plenty of supportive evidence of deceit and conspiratorial activity in the many thousands of e-mails and communications which officials have indicated they already hold. That said, I am also confident — and let’s not discount for even a second — that the regulators were complicit with the banks now in the dock. Why so confident?  Read the rest »


Sense on Cents Request: Your “Solutions for America”

Posted by Larry Doyle on July 17th, 2012 7:49 AM |

A few days ago I received a comment from a regular reader which really resonated with me. In response to my commentary recommending that people be required to complete high school or the equivalent as a prerequisite to receiving any form or substance of government assistance, this reader wrote,

“It’s about time you came up with an issue that is fixable…”

Despite the fact that I fervently believe all the issues I broach are fixable if the requisite transparency is applied and the subsequent truth is embraced, I understood the reader’s point and he got me thinking.

Does anybody doubt that our politicians are all too often engaged in chasing their tail and looking for campaign funds? While those in Washington talk to themselves and their cronies, let’s direct our own focus and generate what I would deem as “Solutions for America.” Your assistance and support in this exercise and effort is requested and appreciated.  Read the rest »


Barclays Libor Scandal: The Precedent

Posted by Larry Doyle on July 16th, 2012 3:15 PM |

Although many on Wall Street would like to see this Libor scandal go away, that is not going to happen. With banks already admitting that they were involved in the manipulation, the public rage resulting from this massive fraud is only going to grow stronger. Rest assured legal defense teams on Wall Street are working overtime on this case.

Remember, Libor is used as a benchmark for trillions of dollars worth of securities and contracts. A basis point here or there equates to literally billions of dollars — if not more — in misallocated and misappropriated funds.  Read the rest »


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Larry Doyle

Larry Doyle A Wall Street veteran's views and instincts on the markets, economy, and all things financial.







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