Unstructured Finance

By Matthew Goldstein

It’s been a while since we last wrote about the legal struggles of Tyrone Gilliams, the Philadelphia commodities trader/hip-hop promoter/wannabe reality show star/self-styled preacher, whom federal authorities have charged with scamming investors out of $5 million. But the University of Pennslyania graduate is making news again with the scheduled start of his Jan. 22 criminal trial in New York federal court.

Gilliams will be on trial with his former lawyer Everette Scott. Both men are charged with working together to “devise a scheme and artifice to defraud” investors out of their money that was supposed to have been invested in Treasury Strips–a derivative of U.S. Treasury bonds the separates the coupon and principal on the underlying note into different securities.

For the details of where the investors’ money allegedly went, read our earlier special report from May 2011 and this feature article from last year in Philadelphia magazine.

Federal prosecutors don’t appear to be taking the trial lightly. Just a few weeks ago, prosecutors revised the indictment against Gilliams and Everette to  spell out more details of how money that was raised to invest in Treasury Strips was largely misappropriated. In a court filing, prosecutors indicated that they could call as many as two-dozen witnesses.

Two potential witnesses include the alleged victim — David Parlin, a Cincinnati, Ohio businessman and John Taylor, who runs an investment vehicle that invested with Gilliams. Others on the witness list include people familiar with the splashy charitable gala event Gilliams held in Philadelphia, that money was allegedly diverted to. The government may also call some of the people–we reported on–who helped line up investors for Gilliams.

By Matthew Goldstein and Svea Herbst-Bayliss

The WSJ is out today with a big story saying Stevie Cohen and SAC Capital are bracing for up to $1 billion in redemptions, or roughly 16 percent of the $6.3 billion it manages for outside investors. That’s a lot of money but sources are telling us redemptions will likely come in lower than that—think more in the $500 million range.

And more important, no matter what the figure is, don’t look for it to put much crimp in Cohen’s operation.

The deadline for submitting redemptions is Feb. 15, so there is still plenty of time for outside investors make a decision about sticking around or leaving. And even if an investor puts in a redemption notice now, those requests to withdraw money can get pulled at the last minute if the investor has a change of heart.

By Matthew Goldstein

Institutional money keeps rushing into the market for foreclosed homes, with some big players snapping up homes at breakneck speed. But the question is whether the big buyers are throwing money around indiscriminately and Wall Street’s big housing long will come up a bit short.

The other day Bloomberg reported that Blackstone Group has already spent $2.5 billion to buy 16,000 homes to manage as rentals and eventually sell them when prices appreciate high enough. Blackstone says it’s finding that the going price for homes sold at foreclosure auctions and out of bank inventories are rising quicker than anticipated.

But Blackstone, which some believe could spend up to $5 billion on single family home space, isn’t alone in racing to snap-up foreclosed homes in states like Florida, Georgia, California, Nevada and Arizona. American Homes 4 Rent, a firm that has $600 million from the Alaska Permanent Fund, is buying up hundreds of homes a month, industry sources say. Colony Capital, the other big institutional player is no less aggressive.

By Lauren Tara LaCapra

There’s an interesting article out today from Bloomberg, which accuses Goldman Sachs of skirting the yet-to-be-defined-or-implemented Volcker rule, and accuses its top executives, including CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, of being a hypocrite.

Bloomberg reporter Max Abelson has done some good work on the subject. His article is well written and well sourced—he spoke to at least 20 people and got many of them to go on the record about their former employer and describe how Goldman continues to place bets with the firm’s own money.

Abelson concludes “Goldman Sachs has worked around regulations curbing proprietary bets at banks. “ But what the article really points out is that Wall Street will keep finding new ways to move the goal posts in its favor when it comes to defining and clamping down on prop trading.

By Matthew Goldstein

Every time the insider trading investigation thrusts Stevie Cohen back into the spotlight, there’s always speculation about whether the billionaire trader will simply give back money to his outside investors and convert his $14 billion SAC Capital into a family office in order to avoid the unwanted headlines. But as tempting as that might be to the publicity-averse Cohen, the well-known trader has a big financial incentivel to keep managing money for his outside investors.

SAC Capital’s fee structure–one of the highest in the $2 trillion hedge fund industry–probably pays for a good chunk of Cohen’s overhead, say people in the hedge fund industry. These sources say that by charging a 3 percent asset management fee and skimming off as much as 50 percent of the firm’s trading profits, SAC Capital’s outside investors provide Cohen with a rich source of cash to pay his 900 or so employees.

Now sure, if Cohen were to return the roughly $6.3 billion in outside money that SAC Capital manages, he could reduce his workforce dramatically and move his operation out of its spacious offices at 72 Cummings Point Road in Stamford, Conn. But with billions of his own money invested in SAC Capital, Cohen would still need to employ a healthy crew of analysts and traders to manage his personal wealth in order to get the kind of double-digit returns he’s accustomed to. Last year, SAC Capital was up a little over 10 percent after accounting for fees–compared to the industry average of about 5 percent.

By Lauren Tara LaCapra

As 2012 comes to an end, it’s clear that Wall Street has had the best-worst year in quite some time.

Bank profits are at record highs and lows, driven by free money from the Fed that they can’t make any money with, and a historically small number of historically huge deals. Facebook’s IPO – among the biggest ever – happened this year, and it was an enormous failure and a terrific success all at once.

And if that’s not enough to convince you, just take a look at the big-tiny payday that Wall Street employees are expected to get this year: bonuses for bankers, traders and money managers are supposed to rise up to 10 percent, in what a top pay consultant called one of the weakest years in a decade or more. Since big banks have been required to shift more bonus money into restricted stock with clawback provisions, some employees even feel like they’re getting punished by those bigger paychecks.

By Sam Forgione and Matthew Goldstein

OK, so it’s not a big gig like being nominated to head the Treasury Dept. But President Obama’s decision to tap PIMCO’s Mohamed El-Erian to head the President’s Global Development Council is no insignificant matter.

As the co-chief investment officer of the giant bond shop founded by Bill Gross, El-Erian is seen as the eventual heir apparent to run the Newport Beach, Calif firm. And El-Erian increasingly has become one of PIMCO’s most visible faces—maybe even more than Gross himself these days–when it comes to talking about what ails the U.S. and global economies.

The assignment is another indication of PIMCO’s growing ties to the Washington establishment, something that has developed as the firm has grown to manage $1.92trillion in assets and played a starring role along with BlackRock in helping to manage some of the financial crisis rescue programs. (For more see the Special Report that Jenn Ablan led earlier this year on Gross and his empire, Twilight of the Bond King).

By Matthew Goldstein and Jennifer Ablan

Big money managers do not always agree–that’s what makes a market–but if there was one consensus coming out of our just concluded Reuters Investment Outlook Summit, it’s that next year will probably be another bang up one for the bond market.

Now the credit markets will have a tough time repeating the kind of numbers put up this year, especially with the Federal Reserve doing its darndest to push down borrowing costs and yields by buying  mortgage backed securities and even Treasuries. Speaker after speaker who joined us in New York said “junk” bonds, corporate debt, mortgage- and commercial-backed securities and even Treasuries “on a trading basis”  should do well for no other reason than credit markets still aren’t showing anything close to the kind of froth we saw in the run-up to the financial crisis. The sense is that it may be another 2 or 3 years before we see excesses build up in the system again.

Oh sure, there are exceptions such as, bonds being sold by companies to pay special dividends to their private equity backers (several speakers said to avoid these). Other guests also are wary of the junk bond market, noting with yields coming down the risk to reward premium isn’t looking as good as it did earlier this year. And at least one speaker said he would avoid mortgage REITS because there’s too much leverage baked into their holdings.

At the Goldman Sachs investor conference on Tuesday, Morgan Stanley wealth management executive Greg Fleming ran through his 31 slides like a financially savvy drill sergeant, with a full discussion of margins, lending, technology, "value propositions" and "illustrative solutions."

But in the Q&A session, he was asked an unusually thoughtful question by an audience member: What about the brand, and the culture, of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management?

As Morgan Stanley has taken control and increased ownership of the Smith Barney retail brokerage from Citigroup, legacy Smith Barney brokers have often complained about what's happening to the culture. Morgan Stanley is all about numbers and metrics, they say, expecting brokers and managers to constantly do more with less.

By Katya Wachtel

For Omega Advisors’ Steve Einhorn, the window of sleep-able hours is narrowing.

“One needs to know whats going on around the world. I turn in around midnight so I can monitor what’s going on in China and Japan,” Einhorn, vice chairman at Leon Cooperman’s $7billion fund, said at the Reuters Global Investment Summit last week.  ”A decade ago, did I and most others focus on what’s going on in China? No. Now we wait for the November manufacturing index for China to come out. The day is longer because of that. I am up around 6 in the morning; I review what has gone on overnight in Asia and in Europe. I spend an hour in front of the machine at home, going through data and news releases” before he’s out the door.

This was undoubtedly the most common refrain when we asked some of Wall Street’s savviest money managers and investors how they begin their day, and with what must-read literature, during the week-long summit.