Anything Can Happen™

vanzandt said:
2021 kick-off here in a bit.

Anybody catch Chanos on Bloomberg "Out Front" this weekend?

Pretty interesting commentary on things.
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I never knew this....
Enron didn't get in trouble for accounting fraud. Everything they did was legal. Their problems stemmed from misleading investors.

This was Chanos' point. Accounting fraud. Apparently, according to him, (note that "fraud" is not the right word as it was/is all legal)... but according to him, (currently) there has NEVER been a higher degree of companies using every loophole that exists to pad the books. He even called out IBM.

I know when I'm out of my league.... I can't hold a candle to this man's level of intelligence. Market-wise at least. But I've gotta believe what he says is true.

Does that matter for the direction of the markets?
No.
To be more exact... F no.

But I highly suspect this cat is right.

Whatever..

...up we go I'm sure.
 
vanzandt said:
I never knew this....
Enron didn't get in trouble for accounting fraud. Everything they did was legal. Their problems stemmed from misleading investors.

This was Chanos' point. Accounting fraud. Apparently, according to him, (note that "fraud" is not the right word as it was/is all legal)... but according to him, (currently) there has NEVER been a higher degree of companies using every loophole that exists to pad the books. He even called out IBM.

I know when I'm out of my league.... I can't hold a candle to this man's level of intelligence. Market-wise at least. But I've gotta believe what he says is true.

Does that matter for the direction of the markets?
No.
To be more exact... F no.

But I highly suspect this cat is right.

Whatever..

...up we go I'm sure.
More...
Bullshit, Skillern and Fastow didn't go to prison for "misleading investors". Fastow cooked the books by creating special purpose entities to hide losses. It was absolutely fraud. The separate entities were common in the energy industry but using them as a shell game was and is illegal.
 
"Top officials at the Houston-based company cheated investors and enriched themselves through complex accounting gimmicks like overvaluing assets to boost cash flow and earnings statements, which made the company even more appealing to investors."

Sounds like they committed fraud through manipulative accounting practices in order to entice investors. There were definitely securities fraud convictions.

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/enron

There was an interesting piece done by Dorsey Wright back in the day ... (way back in 2001) ...

https://www.theadvisoryfirm.net/newsltr/EnronAnatomyCollapse.pdf
 
Always Look On The Bright Side

Always look on the bright side of life.JPG


No doubt the inspiration for ...
upload_2021-1-3_20-57-20.png
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speedo said:
Bullshit, Skillern and Fastow didn't go to prison for "misleading investors". Fastow cooked the books by creating special purpose entities to hide losses. It was absolutely fraud. The separate entities were common in the energy industry but using them as a shell game was and is illegal.
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Don't shoot the messenger Speedo.
Check it out. It queued.

 
vanzandt said:
Don't shoot the messenger Speedo.
Check it out. It queued.

More...
DA's and AG's tend to shove white collar fraud cases to Civil jurisdiction. They take on criminal cases when it benefits them politically and/or the charges are egregious. Enron defined egregious corporate fraud.
 
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