Comic Strip of the Day

CSotD: The Leopard’s Revenge

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Mike Peterson Published: August 3, 2013 1 minute 2 comments

(Robert Ariail)

NEW YORK — A former Goldman Sachs trader who earned the nickname
"Fabulous Fab" was found liable Thursday in a fraud case brought by
federal regulators in response to the 2007 mortgage crisis that helped
push the country into recession.

A jury reached the verdict at the
civil trial in Manhattan federal court of Fabrice Tourre — a
French-born Stanford graduate described by Securities and Exchange
Commission lawyers as the face of 'Wall Street greed.' Tourre's
attorneys portrayed him as a scapegoat in a downturn caused by larger
economic forces.

Tourre, 34, was found liable in six of seven SEC
fraud claims. He faces potential fines and a possible ban from the
financial industry. The exact punishment will be determined at a future
proceeding.

The SEC had accused Tourre of misleading institutional
investors about subprime mortgage securities that he knew were doomed
to fail, setting the stage for a valued Goldman hedge fund client,
Paulson & Co. Inc., to secretly bet against the investment.

The
maneuver ended up making $1 billion for the hedge fund and its wealthy
president, John A. Paulson, and millions of dollars in fees for Goldman.
The SEC also sought to show that it helped earn Tourre a bonus that
boosted his salary to $1.7 million in 2007.  – Associated Press

(Matt Davies)

The Tale of the Elephant, the Leopard and His Son

The leopard had left his son in a certain place. And to the
son of the leopard there came the elephant: He trod on him with his foot,
crushed him and killed him.

 And a lamenter informed the leopard, saying, "Thy son
is dead!"

 The leopard asked the lamenter, saying: "Who has killed
my son?"

 He replied: "The elephant has killed thy son."

 The leopard, however, said: "The elephant has not
killed my son, the goats have killed my him."

 The messenger replied: "No, the elephant has killed thy
son."

 
The leopard: "No, no, no! It is nobody but the goats
who killed my son. This is the deed of the goats."

 Then the leopard went and made a slaughter among the goats
in order to avenge his son.

 …

And until the present day it is like this: If a man is
wronged by someone who is stronger than he, and he finds no means to overpower
him, he rises against him who is weaker than he.

And they say as a proverb: "The goats do this, said the
leopard."

— Publications of the Princeton Expedition to Abyssinia,
1913