Black Edge Inside Information Dirty Money and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street (Audible Audio Edition) Sheelah Kolhatkar Kaleo Griffith Random House Audio Books
Download As PDF : Black Edge Inside Information Dirty Money and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street (Audible Audio Edition) Sheelah Kolhatkar Kaleo Griffith Random House Audio Books
New York Times Bestseller
The story of the billionaire trader Steven A. Cohen, the rise and fall of his hedge fund, SAC Capital, and the largest insider trading investigation in history-for readers of The Big Short, Den of Thieves, and Dark Money.
The rise over the last two decades of a powerful new class of billionaire financiers marks a singular shift in the American economic and political landscape. Their vast reserves of concentrated wealth have allowed a small group of big winners to write their own rules of capitalism and public policy. How did we get here? Through meticulous reporting and powerful storytelling, New Yorker staff writer Sheelah Kolhatkar shows how Steve Cohen became one of the richest and most influential figures in finance-and what happened when the Justice Department put him in its crosshairs.
Cohen and his fellow pioneers of the hedge fund industry didn't lay railroads, build factories, or invent new technologies. Rather, they made their billions through speculation, by placing bets in the market that turned out to be right more often than wrong-and for this they have gained not only extreme personal wealth but formidable influence throughout society. Hedge funds now manage nearly $3 trillion in assets, and competition between them is so fierce that traders will do whatever they can to get an edge.
Cohen was one of the industry's greatest success stories. He mastered poker in high school, went off to Wharton, and in 1992 launched SAC Capital, which he built into a $15 billion empire, almost entirely on the basis of his wizardlike stock trading. He cultivated an air of mystery, reclusiveness, and extreme excess, building a 35,000 square foot mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, and amassing one of the largest private art collections in the world. On Wall Street, Cohen was revered as a genius.
That image was shattered when SAC became the target of a sprawling, seven-year government investigation. Labeled by prosecutors as a "magnet for market cheaters" whose culture encouraged the relentless hunt for "edge"-and even "black edge," or inside information-SAC was ultimately indicted in connection with a vast insider trading scheme, even as Cohen himself was never charged.
Black Edge offers a revelatory look at the gray zone in which so much of Wall Street functions, and a window into the transformation of the U.S. economy. It's a riveting, true-life legal thriller that takes readers inside the government's pursuit of Cohen and his employees, and raises urgent questions about the power and wealth of those who sit at the pinnacle of modern Wall Street.
Black Edge Inside Information Dirty Money and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street (Audible Audio Edition) Sheelah Kolhatkar Kaleo Griffith Random House Audio Books
This is a book giving great insight into the American phenomena of the rich getting richer by any means and doing so with impunity. According to the author, there are three different types of edge, or information a hedge fund trader can obtain before trading a securty. There's "white" edge, which is information known to the general public that anyone can find; there is "gray edge", or information that's not quite proprietary, but only available to people familiar with the inside workings of a particular company; and finally there is "black edge", which is proprietary, supposed to be held in confidence, and can have clear positive or negative impact on a stock's price. The latter is illegal, of course, and the essence of insider trading, but also the trader who uses black edge information has a distinct advantage over the millions common folk investors. Some of the characters working for SAC finally did receive justice by falling on their swords and refusing to cooperate with the SEC, whether through loyalty towards or fear of, or both, of Steven Cohen. Ultimately, this book is about SAC and Steven Cohen, and company and its founder who made unheard of profits year over year through the constant use of "black edge." Some paid the price, however Cohen never did. In America, billionaires can do virtually whatever they want, and they influence our lives more than we realize.If you're interested in white-collar crime, particularly securities fraud, you are probably familiar with "Den of Thieves," and excellent account of the excesses of Wall Streets Masters of the Universe in the 1980s, like Michael Milken. "Black Edge" is a 21st century continuation of the tale, with the main difference being that the bad guy not only eludes justice, but he continues to prosper,unlike what happened to Michael Milken. "Black Edge" reads like a cross between crime fiction and a primer on high finance, meaning it's tautly written, the story flows beautifully, and the author Sheelah Kolhatkar weaves together an extremely complex array of characters into a well structured and easily comprehended narrative. Any negative review I've read of this book up to February 17, 2017 is entirely bogus and illegitimate, written by people who know, or are the people themselves, who are painted in an unflattering light in this book. Don't expect a feel good book with a justice prevails outlook, however. In 21st century America, with the undoubted further de-regulation of Wall Street that is to come in the future, those that think laws are for suckers will continue to prosper at the little guy's expense.
P.S. anyone who has read thus far and takes exception to the political overtones of my review, please keep this in mind: I'm very well versed in Libertarian free market economics, as I've read a few classics, such as "Free to Choose" and "The Road to Serfdom"; while the free market is in theory a beautiful idea, in practice it's simply my opinion that the Steven Cohen's of the world need at least some regulations to help equalize the opportunity for all trading in the securities market, and to keep them from distorting the market forces grossly in their favor. I want to keep my review as apolitical as possible, and respect the views of anyone reading this. I hope it comes across that way.
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Black Edge Inside Information Dirty Money and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street (Audible Audio Edition) Sheelah Kolhatkar Kaleo Griffith Random House Audio Books Reviews
I’ve worked in finance for 25 years and I’m never shy about commenting on it or setting people straight when they thoughtlessly malign the industry. It annoys me. Also, Archeus Capital Management, the fund I worked for when I was briefly in New York some ten years ago, had none other than Steve Cohen as its key investor.
Well, “Black Edge” has left me lost for words.
It’s an amazing feat of journalism that is told with the skill of a novelist. It’s a crash course in insider dealing, taught at a level that will be accessible to anybody.
Most depressingly, it’s a mathematically precise demonstration of the fact that the finance industry elite has come out of the 35 year bull market as the true winner, and in effective control of both the judiciary and the executive branch, leaving the select winners of this poker game with enough resources to buy out anybody who stands in their way as they, the new Masters of the Universe, dance in and out of yachts and auction houses, legally delegating the dirtywork of further enriching themselves to others.
The only conclusion one can draw from this account, and the only hope, is that while the way to end this is evidently not in the courtroom (the sundry prosecutors’ offices are mere training ground for jobs representing the winners), not even in the polling booth (all events in this account took place during the allegedly progressive presidency of Barack Obama, while Donald Trump has already appointed a villain from this story to a recruiting position!), but as HG Wells once imagined it
The “tripod” in “Black Edge,” the rather heinous Steve Cohen, will not go down because we earthlings beat him, but only when the stock market that’s been supporting him eventually deflates, robbing him of the means to buy his underlings’ silence and the services of the best lawyers along with the sundry Picassos, Giacomettis and sports franchises.
It is a sad indictment of our system, but I truly cannot fathom of another way out.
Buy and read this book. I sincerely hope you arrive at a different conclusion.
This is a gripping account of a colossal insider trading scandal. It reads well and provides a great deal of insight into the processes both of gaining inside information and of prosecuting those alleged to have benefited from this. It comes across as a sort of drama - perhaps with movie rights in mind - and the author spends no time on the many ramifications from the drama, and that is her prerogative. My principal criticism is that the book is clearly written from the perspective of the prosecutors and seems to be something of a spin for them. (PLOT SPOILER!) Their major target escaped completely and remains at liberty as one of the world's wealthiest individuals. continuing to trade with impunity. The book does rather come across as an excuse for the failure to prosecute such a high profile suspect and is very light on criticism of the prosecutors for allowing him to get away. My subordinate criticism is that Cohen is painted as a sort of pantomime villain, who gets booed every time he steps on stage. I have no doubt that all the ugly facts presented about him are true, simply because no publisher would risk libelling someone as wealthy as this. However, one suspects that the author has chosen to omit favourable aspects of his character and so he comes across as two- rather than three-dimensional. For example, the author has a great dramatic subplot in that his first wife, in a sort of "nor hell a fury like a woman scorned" moment, fed damning evidence to the prosecutors and filed a lawsuit alleging that she had been defrauded in the divorce settlement. The ex-wife's side is given much coverage, but the fact that her lawsuit was dismissed gets just a short sentence. These, however, are minor points this is one of the most gripping books I have read this year and I am happy to recommend it.
This is a book giving great insight into the American phenomena of the rich getting richer by any means and doing so with impunity. According to the author, there are three different types of edge, or information a hedge fund trader can obtain before trading a securty. There's "white" edge, which is information known to the general public that anyone can find; there is "gray edge", or information that's not quite proprietary, but only available to people familiar with the inside workings of a particular company; and finally there is "black edge", which is proprietary, supposed to be held in confidence, and can have clear positive or negative impact on a stock's price. The latter is illegal, of course, and the essence of insider trading, but also the trader who uses black edge information has a distinct advantage over the millions common folk investors. Some of the characters working for SAC finally did receive justice by falling on their swords and refusing to cooperate with the SEC, whether through loyalty towards or fear of, or both, of Steven Cohen. Ultimately, this book is about SAC and Steven Cohen, and company and its founder who made unheard of profits year over year through the constant use of "black edge." Some paid the price, however Cohen never did. In America, billionaires can do virtually whatever they want, and they influence our lives more than we realize.
If you're interested in white-collar crime, particularly securities fraud, you are probably familiar with "Den of Thieves," and excellent account of the excesses of Wall Streets Masters of the Universe in the 1980s, like Michael Milken. "Black Edge" is a 21st century continuation of the tale, with the main difference being that the bad guy not only eludes justice, but he continues to prosper,unlike what happened to Michael Milken. "Black Edge" reads like a cross between crime fiction and a primer on high finance, meaning it's tautly written, the story flows beautifully, and the author Sheelah Kolhatkar weaves together an extremely complex array of characters into a well structured and easily comprehended narrative. Any negative review I've read of this book up to February 17, 2017 is entirely bogus and illegitimate, written by people who know, or are the people themselves, who are painted in an unflattering light in this book. Don't expect a feel good book with a justice prevails outlook, however. In 21st century America, with the undoubted further de-regulation of Wall Street that is to come in the future, those that think laws are for suckers will continue to prosper at the little guy's expense.
P.S. anyone who has read thus far and takes exception to the political overtones of my review, please keep this in mind I'm very well versed in Libertarian free market economics, as I've read a few classics, such as "Free to Choose" and "The Road to Serfdom"; while the free market is in theory a beautiful idea, in practice it's simply my opinion that the Steven Cohen's of the world need at least some regulations to help equalize the opportunity for all trading in the securities market, and to keep them from distorting the market forces grossly in their favor. I want to keep my review as apolitical as possible, and respect the views of anyone reading this. I hope it comes across that way.
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