5 ms·

Jay Powell traded during blackout period; failed to disclose most trade dates

100 points by itronitron 5y ago

bmmayer1 5y ago
Bombshell, if true. Is there a less ideologically motivated source reporting on this?
- munchler 5y ago
  I can't find anything about this from an actual news site. Hopefully, they'll pick it up soon if it's for real.
  - stickyricky 5y ago
    There was a time when government documents and quotes from primary sources were considered evidence. What point would materially change if it were distributed on CNN.com?
    - munchler 5y ago
      Most informed citizens don't have the time or expertise to consume primary sources directly. It's extremely useful to have a trusted news source do this for us, and then present their findings in an easily understood article.
    - totalZero 5y ago
      The article makes almost zero effort to explain references to primary sources. It just has a list of documents at the end. I have no idea how to sort through and verify any of the claims made by the author.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - gojomo 5y ago
      Well, I don't know the reputation of 'occupythefed.substack.com' from a long-history of reporting. What they purport to be valid images, & interpretations, of "government documents" may or may not be. If & when other outlets with more legible reputations (as well as known biases) pick up the same evidence, I'll have more trust in this outlet's claims.
    - ketzo 5y ago
      It would have had to pass through a major news organization's in-house fact checking apparatus. I know CNN is pretty liberally biased, and blind trust in news organizations is a bad idea. But I think it's disingenuous to say that "government documents and quotes from primary sources" on a tiny Substack hold the same weight as information that goes out on the nightly news.
  - hnuser847 5y ago
    It's old news and was reported on by the MSM almost six months ago. Just search for "Jerome Powell insider trading" and a bunch of articles will pop up. NY Times (October 4, 2021) - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/business/elizabeth-warren-fed-insider-trading.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/business/elizabeth-warren... NY Post (October 18, 2021) - https://nypost.com/2021/10/18/fed-chair-powell-sold-millions-in-stocks-before-october-2020-tank/ https://nypost.com/2021/10/18/fed-chair-powell-sold-millions... Bloomberg (October 19, 2021) - https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-10-19/jerome-powell-s-stock-dump-doesn-t-look-like-insider-trading https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-10-19/jerome... Intelligencier (Jan 10, 2022) - https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/washington-d-c-has-an-insider-trading-problem.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/washington-d-c-has-a...
    - thawaya3113 5y ago
      The 2 who were found to have made unethical trades were removed. Lawmakers have asked to investigate Powell’s trades but there is no evidence that they were unethical. It might be fishy that some of his trades were days before massive Wall Street swings. Hence the justifiable requests for investigations, but considering Powell makes several transactions a year, and there were many days with massive swings in the market over the past couple of years, some of those swings being uncomfortably close to trades are not all that suspicious by themselves.
      - ratsmack 5y ago
        >The 2 who were found to have made unethical trades were removed. Even the two that resigned over this were exonerated because the entity that approves the trades stated that they were done according to the rules in place at the time. They stepped down in an effort improve the image of the Fed and to quell the outrage brewing at the time.
- thorncorona 5y ago
  I'm pretty skeptical of the reporting of this. The writing itself is quite subpar and the sourcing is touchy to say the least. I just picked a blurb at random. > Despite his massive personal financial conflicts, Chair Powell has acted with impunity to advantage the Wall Street firms managing his investment fund holdings both before and after the pandemic. Indeed, in late 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Powell directed the Fed to engage in an unprecedented emergency repo program that provided nearly $20 TRILLION in cumulative loans to Wall Street, including ~$3.7 trillion to Japan’s Nomura Securities and ~$1.4 trillion to Germany’s Deutsche Bank trading arms. Industry experts have opined that the program was in direct violation of the Dodd-Frank Act.24 > 24 https://wallstreetonparade.com/2022/01/a-nomura-document-may-shed-light-on-the-repo-blowup-and-fed-bailout-of-the-gang-of-six-in-2019/ https://wallstreetonparade.com/2022/01/a-nomura-document-may... By Pam Martens and Russ Martens > Mr. Martens’ career spans four decades in publishing and printing management, including magazine and music publishing and the non-profit sector. Mr. Martens has received numerous awards in publishing and graphic design. > Ms. Martens worked on Wall Street for 21 years. The last decade of her career was spent as an outspoken critic of Wall Street’s corrupt practices, its private justice system and the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. Except there's no listed institutions / non-profits / publishers of note. If this is their bombshell article, and this is the strongest source they can pull up, it's pretty weak. Wall Street On Parade is also banned on reddit for vote manipulation apparently. Searching on Google for Wall Street on Parade leads to r/GMEJungle r/Superstonk etc etc. Which leads me to believe there's a 99% chance this article is a conspiracy theory written by QQQanon.
  - thawaya3113 5y ago
    For context, DB’s latest balance sheet has their total assets at $1.3Tn. Net assets and shareholder equity on the balance sheet are obviously far lower due to liabilities. Point is, the apparent loan is greater than their entire assets and much greater than all their liabilities. Unless this 1 publicly traded bank is carrying trillions in secret liabilities, why would they even borrow that much from the Fed.
    - MatteoFrigo 5y ago
- thakoppno 5y ago
  if true, resign?
- rfw300 5y ago
  Yeah. This post certainly warrants further inquiry but our baseline level of skepticism should be fairly high here.
vmception 5y ago
This is beautiful, hope it doesn't affect his confirmation though! I think this has been going on for the last 100 years. I don’t want anybody else on the job.
- newfriend 5y ago
  I think we need more diversity in the position.
  - vmception 5y ago
    I’m fine waiting for that in another term
  - jimmygrapes 5y ago
    What are the diversity requirements for a single position like this? Do we need to start a breeding program to get somebody with just the right percentages?
  - ratsmack 5y ago
    Why wouldn't we just hire the best person for the job?
- stjohnswarts 5y ago
  The source is highly suspect, unless NYT or WSJ publishes something remain highly skeptical'
readthenotes1 5y ago
Rules for thee...
thawaya3113 5y ago
I looked up the claim that Powell traded on the day of the meeting of Dec 11, 2019. And I don’t know if this data is available and I’m certainly not an expert, but the statement of that meeting (which was a Dec 10-11, 2019 meeting) was to be released at 2pm EST. Which still gives at least 2 hours for market close. Considering he would have had blackout dates for 10 days prior, it’s completely natural for there to have been a string of transaction activity right after the meeting. Now, the transaction calendar doesn’t give a time, so if the transactions were made at 9AM that might be bad (although if that’s the case why did he wait till the second day of the meeting). In addition, the transactions were made by the Family Trust (it’s not clear if this is a blind trust or not, however).
- throwthere 5y ago
  Thanks for looking it up— sounds totally innocuous. It’s pretty common to see this type of activity after board meetings to avoid insider trading allegations. In my mind it raises a question that the meetings occur and are announced during trading hours (as opposed to releases made after trading hours). Which would give an information advantage to insiders trading the day of because it takes time to digest all the data in the release and form an opinion. Not saying that’s happening just that a same day trade after an announcement could theoretically be advantaged.

100 points by itronitron 5y ago

bmmayer1 5y ago

Bombshell, if true. Is there a less ideologically motivated source reporting on this?

munchler 5y ago
I can't find anything about this from an actual news site. Hopefully, they'll pick it up soon if it's for real.
- stickyricky 5y ago
  There was a time when government documents and quotes from primary sources were considered evidence. What point would materially change if it were distributed on CNN.com?
  - munchler 5y ago
    Most informed citizens don't have the time or expertise to consume primary sources directly. It's extremely useful to have a trusted news source do this for us, and then present their findings in an easily understood article.
  - totalZero 5y ago
    The article makes almost zero effort to explain references to primary sources. It just has a list of documents at the end. I have no idea how to sort through and verify any of the claims made by the author.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - gojomo 5y ago
    Well, I don't know the reputation of 'occupythefed.substack.com' from a long-history of reporting. What they purport to be valid images, & interpretations, of "government documents" may or may not be. If & when other outlets with more legible reputations (as well as known biases) pick up the same evidence, I'll have more trust in this outlet's claims.
  - ketzo 5y ago
    It would have had to pass through a major news organization's in-house fact checking apparatus. I know CNN is pretty liberally biased, and blind trust in news organizations is a bad idea. But I think it's disingenuous to say that "government documents and quotes from primary sources" on a tiny Substack hold the same weight as information that goes out on the nightly news.
- hnuser847 5y ago
  It's old news and was reported on by the MSM almost six months ago. Just search for "Jerome Powell insider trading" and a bunch of articles will pop up. NY Times (October 4, 2021) - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/business/elizabeth-warren-fed-insider-trading.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/business/elizabeth-warren... NY Post (October 18, 2021) - https://nypost.com/2021/10/18/fed-chair-powell-sold-millions-in-stocks-before-october-2020-tank/ https://nypost.com/2021/10/18/fed-chair-powell-sold-millions... Bloomberg (October 19, 2021) - https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-10-19/jerome-powell-s-stock-dump-doesn-t-look-like-insider-trading https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-10-19/jerome... Intelligencier (Jan 10, 2022) - https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/washington-d-c-has-an-insider-trading-problem.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/washington-d-c-has-a...
  - thawaya3113 5y ago
    The 2 who were found to have made unethical trades were removed. Lawmakers have asked to investigate Powell’s trades but there is no evidence that they were unethical. It might be fishy that some of his trades were days before massive Wall Street swings. Hence the justifiable requests for investigations, but considering Powell makes several transactions a year, and there were many days with massive swings in the market over the past couple of years, some of those swings being uncomfortably close to trades are not all that suspicious by themselves.
    - ratsmack 5y ago
      >The 2 who were found to have made unethical trades were removed. Even the two that resigned over this were exonerated because the entity that approves the trades stated that they were done according to the rules in place at the time. They stepped down in an effort improve the image of the Fed and to quell the outrage brewing at the time.
thorncorona 5y ago
I'm pretty skeptical of the reporting of this. The writing itself is quite subpar and the sourcing is touchy to say the least. I just picked a blurb at random. > Despite his massive personal financial conflicts, Chair Powell has acted with impunity to advantage the Wall Street firms managing his investment fund holdings both before and after the pandemic. Indeed, in late 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Powell directed the Fed to engage in an unprecedented emergency repo program that provided nearly $20 TRILLION in cumulative loans to Wall Street, including ~$3.7 trillion to Japan’s Nomura Securities and ~$1.4 trillion to Germany’s Deutsche Bank trading arms. Industry experts have opined that the program was in direct violation of the Dodd-Frank Act.24 > 24 https://wallstreetonparade.com/2022/01/a-nomura-document-may-shed-light-on-the-repo-blowup-and-fed-bailout-of-the-gang-of-six-in-2019/ https://wallstreetonparade.com/2022/01/a-nomura-document-may... By Pam Martens and Russ Martens > Mr. Martens’ career spans four decades in publishing and printing management, including magazine and music publishing and the non-profit sector. Mr. Martens has received numerous awards in publishing and graphic design. > Ms. Martens worked on Wall Street for 21 years. The last decade of her career was spent as an outspoken critic of Wall Street’s corrupt practices, its private justice system and the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. Except there's no listed institutions / non-profits / publishers of note. If this is their bombshell article, and this is the strongest source they can pull up, it's pretty weak. Wall Street On Parade is also banned on reddit for vote manipulation apparently. Searching on Google for Wall Street on Parade leads to r/GMEJungle r/Superstonk etc etc. Which leads me to believe there's a 99% chance this article is a conspiracy theory written by QQQanon.
- thawaya3113 5y ago
  For context, DB’s latest balance sheet has their total assets at $1.3Tn. Net assets and shareholder equity on the balance sheet are obviously far lower due to liabilities. Point is, the apparent loan is greater than their entire assets and much greater than all their liabilities. Unless this 1 publicly traded bank is carrying trillions in secret liabilities, why would they even borrow that much from the Fed.
  - MatteoFrigo 5y ago
thakoppno 5y ago
if true, resign?
rfw300 5y ago
Yeah. This post certainly warrants further inquiry but our baseline level of skepticism should be fairly high here.

vmception 5y ago

This is beautiful, hope it doesn't affect his confirmation though! I think this has been going on for the last 100 years. I don’t want anybody else on the job.

newfriend 5y ago
I think we need more diversity in the position.
- vmception 5y ago
  I’m fine waiting for that in another term
- jimmygrapes 5y ago
  What are the diversity requirements for a single position like this? Do we need to start a breeding program to get somebody with just the right percentages?
- ratsmack 5y ago
  Why wouldn't we just hire the best person for the job?
stjohnswarts 5y ago
The source is highly suspect, unless NYT or WSJ publishes something remain highly skeptical'

readthenotes1 5y ago

Rules for thee...

thawaya3113 5y ago

I looked up the claim that Powell traded on the day of the meeting of Dec 11, 2019. And I don’t know if this data is available and I’m certainly not an expert, but the statement of that meeting (which was a Dec 10-11, 2019 meeting) was to be released at 2pm EST. Which still gives at least 2 hours for market close. Considering he would have had blackout dates for 10 days prior, it’s completely natural for there to have been a string of transaction activity right after the meeting. Now, the transaction calendar doesn’t give a time, so if the transactions were made at 9AM that might be bad (although if that’s the case why did he wait till the second day of the meeting). In addition, the transactions were made by the Family Trust (it’s not clear if this is a blind trust or not, however).

throwthere 5y ago
Thanks for looking it up— sounds totally innocuous. It’s pretty common to see this type of activity after board meetings to avoid insider trading allegations. In my mind it raises a question that the meetings occur and are announced during trading hours (as opposed to releases made after trading hours). Which would give an information advantage to insiders trading the day of because it takes time to digest all the data in the release and form an opinion. Not saying that’s happening just that a same day trade after an announcement could theoretically be advantaged.