May 20, 2015

Wall Street Is Corrupting Everything – Even University Commencements

http://wallstreetonparade.com/2015/05/wall-street-is-corrupting-everything-even-university-commencements/
"On April 28, Martin Lipton, Chairman of NYU, and its President, John Sexton, announced that hedge fund billionaire John Paulson would receive the “Albert Gallatin Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Society” at NYU’s 183rd Commencement ceremony, slated for next Wednesday. Albert Gallatin was one of the founders of NYU and a former Treasury Secretary under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Gallatin is buried in Trinity churchyard at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway – and he’s likely rolling over in his grave at the idea of having his name appended to John Paulson.
John Paulson is the founder and head of Paulson & Co., infamously known on Wall Street as the firm that conspired with Goldman Sachs to create Abacus 2007-AC1 – an investment Paulson & Co. assisted in designing to collapse in value. On April 16, 2010, the SEC brought charges against Goldman Sachs and one of its young vice presidents, Fabrice Tourre, for “defrauding investors” in the sale and marketing of Abacus. Paulson & Co. slipped through the net because it didn’t sell or market the product – it simply shorted it based on its inside information that it was designed to fail.
According to the SEC’s lawsuit, Paulson paid Goldman Sachs approximately $15 million for structuring Abacus. The deal closed on April 26, 2007. Nine months later says the SEC, “99 percent of the portfolio had been downgraded.” The SEC adds: “As a result, investors in the ABACUS 2007-AC1 CDO lost over $1 billion. Paulson’s opposite CDS positions yielded a profit of approximately $1 billion for Paulson"."