Goldman Sachs Scandal - The Fabulous Fab Tourre Emails

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Fabrice Tourre, the lone Goldman Sachs employee named in the SEC fraud suit against the investment bank, stepped into the spotlight Tuesday, telling lawmakers that "I did not mislead" investors involved in the case.
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In a brash January 2007 e-mail released by the SEC, Tourre called himself "The fabulous Fab ... standing in the middle of all these complex ... exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstrosities!!!"
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In e-mails released by Goldman Sachs over the weekend, Tourre appeared slightly more conflicted about his role emails to his girlfriend, Marine Serres, though his tone was often joking.
"Anyway, not feeling too guilty about this, the real purpose of my job is to make capital markets more efficient and ultimately provide the U.S. consumer with more efficient ways to leverage and finance himself, so there is a humble, noble and ethical reason for my job ;) amazing how good I am in convincing myself !!!"
In one note, he mused that the complex investments he helped create were becoming little like Frankenstein turning against his own inventor."
"When I think that I had some input into the creation of this product (which by the way is a product of pure intellectual masturbation, the type of thing which you invent telling yourself: 'Well, what if we created a "thing", which has no purpose, which is absolutely conceptual and highly theoretical and which nobody knows how to price?') it sickens the heart to see it shot down in mid-flight... It's a little like Frankenstein turning against his own inventor ;)"
His tone could be dismissive at times, at one point joking that he sold risky bonds to "widows and orphans."
In June 2007, Tourre wrote in an email to his girlfriend: "Just made it to the country of your favorite clients!!! I'm managed (sic) to sell a few abacus bonds to widow and orphans that I ran into at the airport, apparently these Belgians adore synthetic abs cdo2,"
Referencing colleague Daniel Sparks, who managed the mortgages department at Goldman, Tourre wrote in a March 7, 2007, that "according to Sparks, that business is totally dead, and the poor little subprime borrowers will not last so long!!!"

During the testimony, Tourre said he regrets sending those emails.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/27/business/main6436951.shtml

I bet.
 
I'll repost this since no one cared in the other thread.

Now conservatives are up in arms over Sen. Levin releasing these e-mails.

Conservative:"You can't indict Goldman based on this! We're all entitled to a trial, this is America!"

Liberal:"Just like the trial that ACORN was entitled to, right?"

Conservative:"....go fuck yourself"
 
exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstrosities!
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Exactly. And his own words. The words of a vice president at Goldman. Jesus.
[quote name='UncleBob']ACORN was indicted?[/QUOTE]
edit: never mind. i won't bite.
 
It wasn't indicted, it was stripped of funding without any kind of trial. Besides, that's not what I said, I said ACORN wasn't given a trial before action was taken on it. It wasn't given a trial before it was guilty in the court of public opinion.

OMGWTFBBQ
 
I'm all for stripping G/S of public funding. Let's do that. And I'm pretty sure they're guilty in the court of public opinion too. So, if we just strip them of funding, you'll be okay with them, right?
 
just look at the names of these people. how could any bald eagle lovin' gun havin' beer drinkinest red white and blue mrkin trust any of them thar yu-rows?
 
Nope, trial for everyone. It sounds great to bash Wall Street, it's very populist. But to take action based on some allegation, some incriminating evidence, without a trial, is wrong.
 
[quote name='speedracer']Exactly. And his own words. The words of a vice president at Goldman. Jesus.[/QUOTE]

That's what I read. He sounds like a guy sick with guilt, desparately trying to rationalize actions that he knows are wrong.

You'd have to be a complete idiot to willingly do business with Goldman Sachs now that we know what they think of their customers.
 
Anyone trying to live with this on their conscience would have to rationalize it somehow. What business schools are these assholes graduating from anyway? Do they not teach ethics?
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']I'm pretty sure they don't, JJ.[/QUOTE]

I told this story before, my college's business school had an ethics course, and my buddy told me that the professor was continually shocked and frustrated with student responses. He could not understand why the students could not or would not realize the basic fundmentals of business ethics.

For every posed hypothetical, the students answered with the option that would maximize profits, ethics be damned. The students didn't care about their reputation or the reputation of the company and only cared about fair business practices and product safety when it could impact the bottom line.
 
You can't be a successful business and ethical at the same time. Thats why your buddy's professor is teaching.
 
[quote name='xxDOYLExx']You can't be a successful business and ethical at the same time. Thats why your buddy's professor is teaching.[/QUOTE]

To be clear, the professor was trying to make the point that ethics are paramount in business. However I find it depressing that you would assume a college business professor is teaching his students to be dishonest, it just goes to show how morally bankrupt this country has become.
 
[quote name='camoor']You'd have to be a complete idiot to willingly do business with Goldman Sachs now that we know what they think of their customers.[/QUOTE]

I kinda thought this before our government went into business with them... ;)
 
You misunderstood me. What I am saying is that you cannot win in the competitive world of owning and running a business if you are going to hold to your ethical principles. You will lose because your competitors will not be playing by the same code as you. Yeah, it is pretty damn depressing.

I had many professors brag about how they were making bank in the private sector but quit to teach because they were burnt out by the rat race. I think its good that the professor was teaching ethics.

Never mind the fact that morals and ethics are relative terms.
 
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[quote name='JolietJake']Well if that's consistent at most business schools we're all fucked.[/QUOTE]

Pretty much. Our best hope is some strong banking legislation out of Congress. I am concerned that negative public sentiment towards the government will allow the bad players of Wall Street to escape with little more then a stern talking-to and a toothless admonition to clean up their act. In this regard, Goldman players like Lloyd "We do God's work" Blankfein and Fabulous Fab are a godsend.
 
[quote name='camoor']Pretty much. Our best hope is some strong banking legislation out of Congress. I am concerned that negative public sentiment towards the government will allow the bad players of Wall Street to escape with little more then a stern talking-to and a toothless admonition to clean up their act. In this regard, Goldman players like Lloyd "We do God's work" Blankfein and Fabulous Fab are a godsend.[/QUOTE]

The stern talking-to is more than our government officials will get - and they're bigger crooks and cheats than these guys.
 
My ethics class in business school was one of the most infuriating things I've ever been a part of. We were given 5 written hypotheticals and graded on those and that's it. If we didn't toe the line and act only in the company's profit motive interest, we were graded down. I'll never forget this guy:

You are a middle manager. You see some of the truckers adding ice to shipments and stealing food. The truckers are in a very strong union. One of the truckers is the brother of your boss.

I said it's time to find another job. They wanted you to confront them. Them union truckers, you a fat pasty biz degree. Yea. That's fuckin happening.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']The stern talking-to is more than our government officials will get - and they're bigger crooks and cheats than these guys.[/QUOTE]
No one on this planet is a bigger crook than a finance major, dude.
 
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