Sheelah Kolhatkar

Welcome to the universe of the greediest hedge fund bastard on Wall St, Steve Cohen of SAC. The reporter does a fine job of detailing the investigation that attempted (and failed) to bring him down permanently. It's a read designed to infuriate, because most of the players, even the not-so-long arms of the law, are so competitive that their own urges to defeat their internal rivals become the highest priority. Cohen is naturally a great trader, but that's not enough for the greedhead, who show more decides that his staff needs to feed him inside info illegally and to break the law to keep his coffers overflowing. He is so repulsively money hungry that the reader wishes he'd choke on his billions and save us a few bucks. The cherry on the sundae is that he's an art collector whose competitiveness, even in that endeavor, means keeping fine art works away from the public with his ill gotten gains. And after getting a little slap on the financial wrist, he STILL gets to start another hedge fund in 2018! Happy days! show less

Yes, this is a book about greed and the naked pursuit of riches at all cost. Steven Cohen is one of the world’s wealthiest men, founder of the now-defunct SAC Capital Advisors, and while he is no doubt a talented trader, the phrase “ill-gotten gains” could not be more aptly applied. Cohen ran a hedge fund for many years that aggressively sought and profited from insider information, extracting billions illegally from the market. Kolhatkar’s account of Cohen’s career portrays his show more working class background, precocious early successes, and rise to dominant position in the industry. Along the way, we are treated to the illicit delivery of information by corporate confederates, and the depraved extraction of dollars through the manipulation of trusting relationships.

But this vivid telling is as much about about the pursuit of Cohen and his empire by the FBI, the SEC, and the US Department of Justice. The story mutates into that of hardworking and devoted attorneys and investigators whose years of persistence and passion in trying to bring Cohen to justice and to right the shameless wrongdoings on Wall Street comes to little in the end. Justice does not prevail. Cohen pays 2 billion dollars in fines to settle up his differences with the US government. Apparently this is a trifling inconvenience in a career undeterred and unrepentant. In a short time he is seen writing nine-figure checks for Giacometti sculptures, and the following year his profit exceeds the $2 billion fine.

The pace and interest increase steadily and deliberately during the second half of the book. Kolhatkar is a skilled journalist and former financial analyst, and she takes on a complex web of financial dealings and delivers it all as riveting thriller. Depressing though the denouement may be, a clear view into Wall Street criminality can be had in a form that manages to feel embarrassingly like entertainment. show less

Sheelah Kolhatkar's engrossing account of the pursuit of cheating stock traders fed into my growing skepticism of the fair operation of public markets. I stopped investing in the stock markets shortly after the 2000 tech bubble burst and have no interest in returning. So-called "investment management" today signifies no more and certainly no less than gambling. Take away the suits. Take away the glitzy advertizing. Take away the government programs for "investing in your future," and what show more you're left with is a system that rewards greed and high stakes gambling. Part of Kolhatkar's thesis is that you often have to cheat to win big, although not all of the big winners are cheaters. There is certainly a prima facia case to be made that Steve Cohen expected his traders to cheat to help him win big. Why am I not surprised? Flip over to other accounts of how computer trading helps a few traders make millions of transactions and beat others to the trading floor in micro-seconds. More cheating. Less transparency in the markets. What continues to sadden me are the scores of graduates of elite universities taking their potential to Wall Street and, in Canada, to Bay Street to work out the fantasies of greed and leave more serious problems to the second tier of risk takers. show less

Sometimes the villain wins and the good guys don't get their man. Basically that's what this book is all about. Steve Cohen is the CEO of SAC Capital, a very thriving hedge fund in the 1980s. To be successful and profitable, it helps that they fund has a "black edge." This involves access to information not known to the general investor or to other investment firms or banks. Knowing what the quarterly results are of a company or finding out how well a company's proposed new product is show more progressing prior to the information being released is a huge strategic advantage – – but it's also illegal.

How Steve Cohen protected himself from indictment and prosecution given that all the pawns around him were ensnared by regulators and the FBI is the crux of this book. This book reads like a novel – – a great deal of information about the personalities, motivations and histories of the various characters within the story. The lifestyles of the various characters in the book, particularly Steve Cohen's is very interesting reading. Cohen's relationships with his ex and current wife was fascinating also...

There are a number of surprise endings on how things for various characters as this book concluded. This was not your typical stodgy business book. I really enjoyed the story and the lessons to be learned from this period. An excellent read. show less