Courtesy of Pam Martens.
John Paulson, Hedge Fund Manager, Is Praised in the 2010 Spring/Summer Issue of the Alumni Magazine of the Stern School of Business
On April 28, Martin Lipton, Chairman of NYU, and its President, John Sexton, announced that hedge fund billionaire John Paulson would receive the “Albert Gallatin Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Society” at NYU’s 183rd Commencement ceremony, slated for next Wednesday. Albert Gallatin was one of the founders of NYU and a former Treasury Secretary under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Gallatin is buried in Trinity churchyard at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway – and he’s likely rolling over in his grave at the idea of having his name appended to John Paulson.
John Paulson is the founder and head of Paulson & Co., infamously known on Wall Street as the firm that conspired with Goldman Sachs to create Abacus 2007-AC1 – an investment Paulson & Co. assisted in designing to collapse in value. On April 16, 2010, the SEC brought charges against Goldman Sachs and one of its young vice presidents, Fabrice Tourre, for “defrauding investors” in the sale and marketing of Abacus. Paulson & Co. slipped through the net because it didn’t sell or market the product – it simply shorted it based on its inside information that it was designed to fail.
According to the SEC’s lawsuit, Paulson paid Goldman Sachs approximately $15 million for structuring Abacus. The deal closed on April 26, 2007. Nine months later says the SEC, “99 percent of the portfolio had been downgraded.” The SEC adds: “As a result, investors in the ABACUS 2007-AC1 CDO lost over $1 billion. Paulson’s opposite CDS positions yielded a profit of approximately $1 billion for Paulson.”
In July 2010, Goldman Sachs settled with the SEC for a payment of $550 million. Fabrice Tourre was subjected to a jury trial and ordered to pay more than $825,000 in gains and penalties. John Paulson and his hedge fund skated and kept their profits.
This is when the power brokers at NYU seem to have taken their first interest in remarketing the villainous reputation of John Paulson into that of visionary businessman. The 2010 Spring/Summer issue of the Alumni Magazine of the Stern School of Business carried a glowing tribute to Paulson, noting that he had made a $20 million gift to the school. There is no mention of Abacus or shorting an investment designed to fail. Instead, the article tells alumni readers that “during the recent subprime mortgage crisis, Paulson developed a contrarian strategy that included shorting mortgage-backed securities. It turned into one of the greatest trades in Wall Street history.”
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