How Goldmans cost Gaddafi a $1.3bn fortune

Shit, he can't even afford a new pair of sunglasses.

Sounds like bribe money though... not sure who he was trying to buy....
 
interesting article, 1.3 billion loss in a few months doing options, maybe those guys should signed up for ET and asked atticus for help :P
 
Just proves the point - if investment bankers are after your money to 'invest' and for 'deals' then be very worried because it's odds on your money will become their money........
 
Quote from dtan1e:

that is a lot to loose in a few months, wonder how they manage that
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How about like this -

Account A buys X amount of Y at 10am

Account B sells X amount of Y at 10am

At 5pm one either account A will make or lose and vice-versa for account B.

Profitable trades go into Goldman's house account, losing trades go to the Colonel.

It would be slightly more sophisticated than that, but that's the basis. Plus, throw in some 'structured products' and that's even easier as guess who makes the markets? Then you don't even need 2 accounts as you make the Libyan fund buy something that's worth say $100 for $120 - and all off Exchange :)

PS. Anyone else ever wondered why Colonel Gaddafi is still just a Colonel? Normally dictators are so vain I would have thought he'd have promoted himself to a 3* General at least.
 
Quote from Visaria:

Looks like large traders lose as well, sometimes in a "spectacular fashion!" :p
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Large traders certainly loose... but the guys in the article weren't traders.

They just bought tons of complex financial products they didn't understand. Victims of a typical sales babble:

"you can earn 3 times market return with no risk whatsoever... and don't read the small print: all events listed their that would ruin you are extremely unlikely - we as the best finance professionals out there are confident about that."

This fund is not the first or the largest victim. The most prominent ones are Orange County and Enron.
 
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