Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Merrill Lynch & Co. employees discussed helping naked short-sales by market-maker clients in e-mails the banks sought to keep secret, including one in which a Merrill official told another to ignore compliance rules, Overstock.com Inc. (OSTK) said in a court filing.
 

The online retailer accused Merrill, now part of Bank of America Corp., and Goldman Sachs of manipulating its stock from 2005 to 2007, causing its shares to fall. Clearing operations at the banks intentionally failed to locate and deliver borrowed shares for clients shorting stocks, including two traders who were fined and suspended from the industry, Overstock’s attorneys said in court filings earlier this year.
 

Lawyers for Overstock, whose California state court lawsuit inSan Francisco was dismissed in January, asked a judge to make public e-mails sent in 2005 and 2006 that it said “reflect business decisions to put profits and corporate ambition over compliance” at Goldman Sachs and Merrill. The banks’ decisions to intentionally fail to deliver Overstock shares caused large- scale naked short selling of the company’s stock, according to the filing. 

‘Procedures, Schmecedures’

After a Merrill executive expressed concern that a colleague intentionally failed, or didn’t complete, a short sale, an executive at the clearing unit responded with an expletive, telling the executive to ignore “the compliance area -- procedures, schmecedures,” Overstock lawyers said in the filing, citing an excerpt from a May 2005 e-mail. The Merrill executive later told a judge the statement was a joke, Overstock said in the Feb. 9 court document.
 

An undated e-mail informed Wolverine Trading LLC, the Goldman Sachs clearing unit’s largest client, that “we will let you fail,” in response to an inquiry by Wolverine about whether there was an effort “at cleaning up” fails, according to the filing.
 

In June 2005, Thomas Tranfaglia, then president of Merrill’s clearing unit, said in an e-mail about the possibility of failing market-maker trades, “Why would we have to borrow them? We want to fail on them,” according to the filing.
 

“As far as I’m concerned, this is totally unacceptable -- we are failing when we have over a million shares of stock available,” another Merrill executive said in an e-mail cited by Overstock in its filing. “Is there a blanket agreement that we allow every market-maker client to continue failing even if there is enough availability?” the executive asked in the e- mail. “There needs to be some assessment done here, and fails cleaned up regardless of who is causing them.”
 

Market Makers

The vast majority of Merrill’s fails to deliver in Overstock shares correspond to market makers Scott Arenstein and Steven Hazan, Overstock’s lawyers said in the filing. Goldman Sachs purchased conversion trades, which were naked short sales, from both men through their companies, the lawyers said.
 

An undated Goldman Sachs e-mail refers to Arenstein and his company SBA Trading “providing very aggressive liquidity to Goldman” in the form of conversion trades with Goldman Sachs’s securities lending group.
 

Four media organizations, including Bloomberg LP, the New York Times (NYT), Wenner Media and The Economist, intervened in the Overstock case and joined the company’s request to unseal court files. Bloomberg News obtained a copy of the filing describing the e-mails. The document was filed by attorneys for Goldman Sachs and Merrill as an exhibit to another filing, said Karl Olson, an attorney for Bloomberg and other news outlets.

The full text of the e-mails isn’t included in the court filing by Overstock.
 

Proper Handling

The e-mails demonstrate Bank of America’s efforts to ensure proper handling of short sale transactions, said William Halldin, a spokesman for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America.
 

“When regulatory requirements changed in early 2005, our compliance team worked closely to implement those changes and, when necessary, address any issues that arose,” Halldin said in a phone interview. “Our employees provided testimony to explain these matters and these documents. In the end, the judge ruled in our favor” and dismissed the case.

Tranfaglia is no longer at the bank and didn’t respond to a voice-mail message seeking comment.
 

Michael DuVally, a spokesman for New York-based Goldman Sachs, didn’t immediately comment on the document.
 

Both banks have denied any wrongdoing.
 

Goldman Sachs and Bank of America persuaded a judge to dismiss Overstock’s lawsuit, originally filed in 2007. State court Judge John Munter in San Francisco agreed with the banks that the lawsuit had to be thrown out because none of the conduct alleged in the complaint happened in California.

Wolverine Trading

Wolverine Trading, a Chicago-based market making firm, didn’t return a call left in a general mail box after regular business hours. There was no answer at the firm’s San Francisco office.
 

Arenstein and his company were fined $3.6 million in July 2007 for naked short selling by the former American Stock Exchange. He was suspended from the exchange for five years.

“I have no comment on any of that,” Arenstein said by phone.
 

Hazan agreed to pay $4 million in 2009 to settle Securities and Exchange Commission claims that the firm made naked short sales. Hazan and his New York-based Hazan Capital Management LLC were accused of betting that share prices would fall without borrowing and delivering the shares, the SEC said. Hazan was barred from working with any brokerage.
 

Barred From Trading

The New York Stock Exchange in a related action in 2009 said it barred Hazan from trading for seven years.?

Michael Bachner, a lawyer for Hazan, declined to comment on Overstock’s filing.

In short selling, investors sell shares they have borrowed in anticipation of making a profit by purchasing stock to return to the lender after its price has fallen.

In naked short selling, traders never borrow the stock and can drive down prices by flooding the market with orders to sell shares they don’t have.

A “failure to deliver” or “fail” is when the short- seller doesn’t deliver the shares for a short sale prior to the trade’s settlement date, usually three days later. A “locate” refers to the ability of a broker to find shares that can be delivered on behalf of the short-seller.

Options market makers at the time the e-mails were sent had an exception to trading rules requiring that borrowed shares be located. Market makers had 13 days to clear up fails.
 

Naked Shorting

In October 2008, naked shorting mostly ended after the SEC put in place rules that made it harder to short a stock without first borrowing it or locating it.

Overstock lawyers said the information in the e-mails “concerns obsolete procedures from six or seven years ago that were unlawful at the time and that are further blocked by the enactment of new federal regulations in 2008.”

Overstock, based in Salt Lake City, claimed in its lawsuit that large portions of its stock were the subject of naked shorting, leading to instances in which the short position in its stock exceeded the entire supply of outstanding shares.

“We have to be careful not to link locates to fails [because] we have told the regulators we can’t,” an unidentified Goldman Sachs executive wrote in an undated e-mail cited in Overstock’s filing.

Tags: Goldman Sachs Group Inc,  SEC,  USA,  Procedures,  Schmecedures, Merrill executive ,  Proper Handling, William Halldin,  Charlotte, Michael DuVally

Minister of Youth Development, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi has attributed the delay of the April allowance of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, corps members to transition to better accounting system. 
In a statement signed by the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister, Julius Ogunro, in Abuja, Abdullahi said that the delay is not peculiar to corps members alone, but also affects some civil servants in the government service.



“It is not deliberate but as a result of the transition to the new and better secured Integrated Payroll Payment System, as part of Government’s commitment to transparency and accountability,” he said.

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) assured that by this weekend all administrative issues pertaining to the allowance of corps members would be sorted out and they could look forward to receiving their April and May allowances.

According to the statement, “the minister regrets whatever inconvenience this delay might have caused our loyal and dutiful corps members, and urged them to continue to serve Nigeria selflessly”.

I want Rihanna or Cheryl Cole on the remix of Fall in Love – D’banj

MTV The Wrap Up resident Afrobeats columnist, Nonny Orakwue, sat down with Africa’s biggest pop star D’banj for an in-depth chat. D’banj talked about how he feels to be the first African artist to headline mainstream festivals like Wireless and the Radio 1 Hackney Weekend. He also hinted his new album may be called ‘The Entertainer Repackage’because he is trying to introduce the western world to hit singles like fall in love which might get a remix from Rihanna or other star and also suddenly.

The Wrap Up: Hi D’Banj! Let’s get straight into it. How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t yet heard your music?

D’Banj: My sound is Afro-pop, meaning an African sound. I know a lot of people have heard of Afrobeat, but I like to say that Afrobeat was in the time of the late legend Fela Kuti. Just the way that music has evolved around the world, you can’t compare rap from the 90s with the rap we have now, you can’t even compare R&B from the 90s with the R&B we have now. So the Afrobeat of today, with my generation, I would call it Afro-pop. ‘Oliver Twist’ is Afro, but the sound is pop. Other colleagues of mine who are making music back home, you can’t call their music Afrobeat but it’s Afro-rap, Afro-hip hop, Afro-jazz, Afro-soul and some still do Afrobeat.

TWU: You’ve performed numerous times in the UK to sold-out arenas, but how does it feel to be the first African artist to headline mainstream festivals like Wireless and the Radio 1 Hackney Weekend?

D’Banj: I feel very honoured, I feel very privileged but I also feel very scared. I think I have to beg all of my fans to come out because, usually, I’m used to headlining major festivals but with my African people. I’m looking forward to it and I’m begging all of my fans to come out and support because this is a big moment for everybody, not just for me. I just hope the UK fans will be pleased with the kind of sound that they’re going to hear and those who’ve never heard us before, I hope they’ll be won over.

TWU: Is there anyone on the line-up that you’re looking forward to hearing?

D’Banj: Definitely! Well, I’ve watched most of them but just in a different continent, like when they’ve come to Africa to perform. I’d like to see Nicki MInaj on stage, Tinie Tempah and I’d like to see Rihanna – everyone knows that I like Rihanna! (Laughs) Obviously, I’d like to see Jay-Z and even people whose sound I haven’t heard, like Chase & Status. I’d like to hear some drum & bass! I know I’ll look odd, but music is so universal and speaks to everybody.

TWU: You’re known for your love of the ladies, so what does it take to be a kokolet?

D’Banj: A kokolet is a well-endowed woman with good intellect, I believe. That means not just a pretty face and someone who knows what they want and has a mind of their own. Growing up, people asked me, ‘What’s your definition of an ideal woman?’ I’ve seen that has changed with time, and now I’m more affected by what someone has got up there to offer.

TWU: Your current single, ‘Oliver Twist’, is out now. Why do you think the West is now taking interest in African artists?

D’Banj: I think the world is interested in Africans in general now, not just on the music side of things. For the last five years, from the oil and gas industry to the capital and banking industry, you see a lot of banks that are in Africa now coming here and to America to open because the world is bigger than just continents, it’s now one. It’s the same thing with the music. After meeting Kanye West in Dubai, with him inviting me over, a lot of people started coming over to Nigeria to come and pick acts. The world likes something different and new, we’ve been left out of the scene for a long time but what’s good about it is that now that everybody has gone everywhere, Africa looks like it’s doing something brand new. I remember when I first found out that they wanted to release ‘Oliver Twist’ again; I was like, ‘Ah! Ah! That came out last year in Africa and it did over 330,000 downloads in the first three days.’ I’ve had people even tell me that I should bring out my last album, ‘The Entertainer’, all over again and call it ‘The Entertainer Repackaged’. The Western world can hear and know the tunes like ‘Fall In Love’ and ‘Suddenly’ because they were massive songs and have someone like Rihanna or Cheryl Cole sing on ‘Fall In Love’. The fact that people already think that it’s possible shows that it can be a big thing. I’m just begging for people to have an open mind and accept us.

TWU: What three items can’t you live without?

D’Banj: I can live without anything. The only thing I can’t live without is God, and that’s the honest truth. Recently, I’ve been travelling so much that I even forget my phone and my shades. When I was in Africa for nine years, no one saw my eyes and recently I’ve gone into meetings and forgotten my glasses. I wear them because I wanted to have something separate to hold for myself. Performing on stage for me is very radical, I take off my shirt so that’s like me already taking off a lot of things, so I was like, ‘What can I keep that people won’t see?’ In Nigeria, if I walk around without my glasses, people don’t recognise me until maybe when I open my mouth and talk, but if I’m just eating in a restaurant or there’s no security around me, people don’t realise. It’s my superman look! D’Banj was the first black superhero till Hancock came (laughs).

TWU: (Laughs) If we were to have a cheeky look in your iPod, what music could we expect to find in there?

D’Banj: You’d be so surprised, because I have everything! I’ve got Adele and right after her, you’ll see ‘N****s In Paris’ by Jay and Kanye (laughs). For me, music is universal. Last summer, my favourite song was by Martin Solveig with ‘Hello’, and I’d listen to it before I’d go on stage. I’ve opened my eyes and my mind to listen to different things in the last two years. I was somewhere recently and the driver was playing hip-hop. The driver told me that because I was with Kid Cudi and my people, he thought that we wanted to hear hip-hop – I asked him to turn it to a local radio station. In 2008, one of my people even showed me on the net that they’d sampled one of my songs all the way from India, which meant a lot to me. It shows that we’re not bound by our continent or our region, music is so huge that it can speak to anybody.

TWU: And lastly, what can we expect to hear from your forthcoming album – which is rumoured to be called ‘Mr Endowed’?

D’Banj: No, things have changed now. ‘Mr Endowed’, which is the single, came out last year and ‘Oliver Twist’ has taken over now so I don’t know what the album is going to be called now. I’m caught in between reintroducing my last album, because my new album is going to have some songs from my last album to reintroduce people and let them know this is how I am. Maybe it’s going to be called ‘The Entertainer Repackaged’ – but it’s not my field, I let the professionals choose. Maybe it could be called ‘Entertainer X’ or something like that, and then I could have five songs from the last album and then five new songs. I’m not sure yet, but just make sure you’re ready for it!

HAVE A NICE TIME READING THIS.

There is no substitute for the comfort supplied by the utterly taken-for granted relationship.”  -Iris Murdoch.

Choosing a mate may be one of the most important decisions you make in your life. Yet, on what basis will you do it? Will you leave it to destiny? Will you leave it to chance? Will you settle for less than you want because you believe that what you want is not readily available?

Making an active choice

Choosing a mate is so vitally important to your level of happiness and success and yet people often pay it less attention than choosing a home or a car. People prefer to attribute it to some mystical force of the universe, some divine power, and hope for the best. Given the high rate of divorce in the Western world, it seems clear that this method of choosing your life partner just is not working.

Is it destiny? Is it all beyond your control? I submit that while destiny certainly has a role to play you have an even greater role to play in the choice.

Over the course of your life, you will date and even fall in love with, many people. However, who you choose to spend the rest of your life with should have as much to do with making an intelligent informed decision as with falling in love. The most critical information you need to know is what you want in a mate.

Consider for instance how you go about buying a refrigerator. You first determine your requirements. How large should the fridge be to accommodate your groceries? What about the door? Would you prefer a single door or a double door? If the latter, should they be side-by-side or top and bottom? Should the freezer be on top or below? Do you need ice in the door? Should the vegetables have separate temperature controls? How many shelves do you need? Glass or plastic shelving? You spend a reasonable amount of time determining your needs and specifications when it comes to a refrigerator – an item that you will dispose of in a few years. Does not your choice of a life partner deserve at least the same effort and thought?

Determine your needs

The first step you need to take in choosing the perfect mate is to determine your requirements in a mate. I suggest you consider all the possible attributes that are important to you. The major ones as well as the seemingly unimportant ones. There are several different kinds of attributes and this can seem like an overwhelming task at first. If you break it down into distinct areas identifying the characteristics of your ideal mate will become a more manageable project. Some categories to consider include Physical attributes, Career, Health, Finance, Family, Religion, Background, and most importantly, Personal Character and Values.

Use these characteristics to define your ideal mate. Is he tall, athletically built, sensitive, affectionate, stockbroker, Democrat, Catholic, from an old Irish family? Is she full-bodied, gentle, artist, empathetic, atheist? When choosing a mate, it is often difficult to identify your requirements down to this level. You may need to identify which of the general categories are of importance to you at all. For example, you may have no view on Religion, either good or bad. You may feel equally comfortable with someone who has an active religious life as with one who has none. However Finance may be of supreme importance to you and you could not consider someone who did not view it as seriously.

Career is often a fluid category that most people do not have rigid requirements for their mate. After all, how many people do you know who say, “I am looking for a mechanic – if he is not a mechanic I can’t possibly live with him? However depending on your personal convictions there may be significant difficulty in associating with people of particular careers. For example, if you are an animal rights activist, you may find it a challenge to respect a butcher or a fur coat manufacturer!

Analyze past relationships

One technique which you can use when choosing the characteristics of your ideal mate is to consider your past relationships. Consider which characteristics of your ex-partners that you truly enjoyed and which sent your blood pressure spiraling upwards. What attracted you to them in the first place? What caused the relationship to end? In order to move forward it is very important to learn from the past. Did you feel completely contented and satisfied when your ex-partner hugged you or held your hand? Then affection may be one of your requirements. Did you feel frustrated by your ex-partner’s lack of willingness to engage in a lively debate? Then conversation may be one of your needs.

Analyze people you admire

Another technique which may help you in determining the characteristics of your ideal mate is to consider people that you admire or dislike. These may be people that you know personally or even celebrities and people in the news. What characteristic is it that you admire about them? Their love for humanity? Their empathy with those who have made mistakes? Their perseverance? Their strength? Their resilience? What characteristic is it that you dislike? Their single-mindedness? Their lifestyle? Their family background?

Personal Character and Values

Personal character is probably the most important area when considering what you want in a mate and it is often the area that gets the least attention. Most other attributes of a person flow out of their character and values. A person who is hard working and persistent is likely to be financially well off or well on their way to it. A person who has strong moral values is likely to be spiritual. A person who is dogmatic and traditional may be religious.

In identifying the qualities of your ideal mate pay the most attention to identifying the characteristics and values your ideal mate would have. What qualities must your mate display? Persistence? Industriousness? Compassion? Affection? Determination? Honesty? High Integrity? Sensuality? Sexuality? Self-discipline? Vivaciousness? Out-going? Intelligence? Wit? Worldliness? Knowledge? Conversant? Sociable? Entertaining? Loyal? This list can be quite long. But it is critical that you identify the characteristics that are of essential importance to you.

If you are finding it difficult to determine the importance of a particular characteristic, simply imagine being in a relationship with a person who does not have it. You will know immediately how important that characteristic is to you. Consider being in a relationship with a dishonest person who will not tell you where she has been and what she has been doing. Does this thought really upset you?  Or is it just mildly irritating?

Consider the flip side of this as well. What qualities must your mate absolutely NOT have? Dishonesty? Lack of integrity? Laziness? Social ineptitude? And so on.

Take your time

This is not a process to be rushed. It can take a week or several months. You will most likely fine-tune it as you date different people and discover additional characteristics that you like or dislike. You will realize that some characteristics are more important to you than you previously thought and others are less important. It is critical to remember that you are seeking to identify the characteristics of your perfect mate whom you expect to spend a lifetime with, so it is perfectly okay if it takes you a few months to figure out your requirements.

Trust your judgment

Do not be concerned about whether your desires and needs are right or shallow or unpopular. You are choosing YOUR perfect mate, not what society dictates to be your perfect mate. So if you absolutely must be with a blond, then nothing short of this could truly result in your happiness. However, do keep in mind that all characteristics will not be equally important to you. I will discuss this further in the next article.

For now, trust your own judgment. Resist the urge to judge your needs. Your needs are your needs and you will not likely be happy with anything less. So be honest with yourself. Do not concern yourself with what you think you should want. Concern yourself only with what you actually do want and need.

Once you have identified the characteristics and values which define your ideal mate, you must separate these into two categories essentials and optionals.

ALOBA OLASUPO.

hrweb@worldbank.org