Oversimplification and financial crime (Felix Salmon edition)
I sometimes joke that straight accounts like virginity refer to one state only - whereas financial crime - as does sin - refers to a multitude.
This blog aims to provide - in part - a morphology of sin - and alas like the loss-of-virginity and relati...
The Sino Forest Independent Committee Report – part 2
Sino Forest's Independent Committee of Directors has - as explained before - concluded there was no substantial fraud at Sino Forest.
Here without adornment is another paragraph (paragraph 54) from the process memorandum sent by the Independent Commit...
The Sino Forest Independent Committee Report part 1.
Sino Forest - a Chinese forestry company listed in Canada - is the subject of the most spectacular fraud allegation of this cycle of Chinese frauds. The allegation was made by Muddy Waters LLC (MW).
The allegation had three prongs:
(a). The forests l...
Buy Ben Bernanke a marijuana pipe and an Hawaiian shirt
Edward Harrison annoyed me this morning. He writes the useful but sometimes disagreeable Credit Writedowns blog and he has a post up on why the Fed should never buy Italian Government bonds. His conclusion - which sounds reasonable but is dead wrong is...
Trina Solar updates guidance (part 2)
After the results note: We now - post the result - know the difference. They took a charge - only thinly disclosed - on receivables Someone did not pay them!
Note: the post script is an important part of this story. My original blog post...
Trina updates guidance (part 1)
Trina issued updated guidance yesterday. This unsurprisingly included an earnings downgrade and a decline in margins. Somewhat more surprisingly it included a massive shipment volume downgrade.
To quote:
The Company estimates its solar module sh...
Andy Borowitz and the buy case for Bank of America
Andy Borowitz (a daily email you must have) lays out the buy case for Bank of America succinctly:
A Letter from Bank of AmericaAn Apology to Our Customers
NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report) – The following letter was sent today by Bank of America to a...
Weekend edition: Firing Rosa Parks for not giving up her seat on the bus
The woman holding up the so-called "Abacus sign" at the Occupy Wall Street demo has been identified. Her name is Caitlin Curran and here (again) is the famous picture of her holding her sign.
As readers will know I thought this sign was misleading i...
Shorting – early can be wrong: First Solar edition
At Bronte we mostly short frauds. Our typical positions are tiny (less than 1 percent of funds under management). The reason is that if a company has fake 20 million in earnings and a market cap of $200 million there is nothing stopping it having fake ...
Thinking about the Abacus sign
The widely distributed - nay viral - picture of a young woman carrying a sign referring to Abacus - the much litigated Goldman Sachs/Paulson/IKB deal got me thinking.
Here is the sign for the small number of you that have not seen the picture:
It ...
Silvercorp: not what I expected
Silvercorp is a Chinese precious metals miner listed on the Canadian and Amex stock exchanges. It is a controversial stock.
Two anonymous short-sellers put out reports (at least one posted to the Canadian regulators and some Canadian journalists ...
Huabao: derivative transactions and disclosure
Huabao - a fragrances and flavors company and the subject of attention on this blog - has suffered a rapid stock-price decline lately.
The company put out a press release related to the unusual activity in the stock.
To quote:
UNUSUAL PRICE AND TRAD...
