Here’s what Lee Ainslie, James Dinan, Izzy Englander had to say on the “hedge funds legends” panel at this year’s SALT conference in Vegas about the culture within their firms:

Ainslie: “It’s very important to identify what you values are; make sure everyone understands what you’re trying to achieve as a team. Our training week at the beginning of the year starts with an ethics section. We never keep an individuals’s P&L- only team P&L, so no one person gets credit or blame for an investment decision, which makes for a very collegial culture and makes people do recognize that they’re there to what’s in the best interest of our investors.

Dinan: “At the end of the day, we’ve tried to create a culture that’s egalitarian. Myself and the other partners sit on the same desk as everyone else on the firm. We’re open, we have no secrets, we discourage people from thinking about ‘their business’ rather than ‘the firm’s business.’ We promote from within- every partner started as analyst and worked their way up. We don’t throw people out when they don’t work out we help them find something else. It’s not a Darwinian culture. People take a chance to go for the gold because they know we recognize that they’re people and not a cog in the wheel.

Englander: “It’s very important that there’s a common sense for the discipline, a level of simpatico. Unlike Jamie and Lee, everyone does have their own P&L and they’re judged on their own. If people want to share their ideas, that’s fine, if they don’t, that’s fine. Though I will say we do about 20-25% in statistical arbitrage- try getting a quant to be collegial.”

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Dimon Kicks Off Wall Street Pressure On Global Competitiveness (Bloomberg)
Dimon is the keynote speaker today at a conference on global capital markets competitiveness hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington. “If America adopts a lot of things very different than the rest of the world,” U.S. competitiveness will be damaged, Dimon told investors at a Feb. 15 meeting at JPMorgan’s New York headquarters. JPMorgan’s chairman and CEO said forcing banks to spin off some derivatives business is “absurd” and other changes in last year’s Dodd-Frank Act are a “terrible shame.”

Microsoft Cofounder Hits Out At Gates (WSJ, excerpt)
Bill Gates schemed to take shares in Microsoft Corp. from his co-founder during the early days of the software company following his partner’s treatment for cancer, according to a new memoir by the billionaire co-founder, Paul Allen…In the book, Mr. Allen reveals that his decision to leave Microsoft was prompted largely by his growing disenchantment with the behavior of Mr. Gates, whom he portrays as a confrontational taskmaster who clashed with Mr. Allen’s low-key style. Past histories of Microsoft have said Mr. Allen’s departure from the company was sparked by his first brush with cancer in 1982, when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. In that year, Mr. Allen says he eavesdropped on a discussion in the Microsoft offices in Bellevue, Wash., between Mr. Gates and Steve Ballmer, now the company’s CEO, in which he heard the two men talking about Mr. Allen’s recent lack of productivity and how they might dilute his equity in the company by issuing options to themselves and other shareholders. Mr. Allen said he burst into the room and confronted Messrs. Gates and Ballmer, both of whom later apologized to him and backed down from their plan.

Trader Outlines Two Faces Of Galleon (NYP)
Former employee Adam Smith testified that the culture at Galleon was such that Rajaratnam encouraged employees to communicate openly about their trading ideas and stock tips — unless it came to “sensitive” inside information. In those cases, Rajaratnam “admonished” workers who were too specific and told them never to put anything in writing unless they could keep it “vague,” Smith testified.

Merrill Lynch To Pay $1.2M To Former Co-President (WSJ)
Ahmass L. Fakahany, Merrill’s former co-president and chief operating officer, filed the arbitration claim in December 2008, alleging the firm benefited financially at his expense, among other things, according to a ruling by a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel. The ruling, entered on March 24, didn’t explain the basis for Fakahany’s arguments, or the panel’s decision, as is customary in arbitration cases. Fakahany, who left the firm in February 2008, sought $70 million in damages from Merrill Lynch & Co., in addition to John Thain, its former chairman and chief executive, members of its board of directors, and Banc of America Securities.

Deal Rush Pushes Takeovers To Most Expensive Since Lehman (Bloomberg)
Acquirers paid a median 9.2 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for companies in thefirst quarter, the most since the second quarter of 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Valuations are still lower than during the last M&A boom, when they peaked at 11.4 times Ebitda.

Jim Rogers: Oil To Rise; Nuclear Energy Will Come Back (CNBC)
Uranium and nuclear power stocks are likely to be good buys only in two or three years, when things calm down, Rogers, who together with George Soros co-funded the Quantum Fund, said in an interview. “Unless we find something to replace oil and coal, we have to have nuclear… whether we like it or not,” he said. Rogers, whose portfolio is mainly in commodities and currencies, said oil prices will rise.

Where The Bailout Went Wrong, By Neil Barofsky (NYT)
“Worse, Treasury apparently has chosen to ignore rather than support real efforts at reform, such as those advocated by Sheila Bair, the chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to simplify or shrink the most complex financial institutions. In the final analysis, it has been Treasury’s broken promises that have turned TARP — which was instrumental in saving the financial system at a relatively modest cost to taxpayers — into a program commonly viewed as little more than a giveaway to Wall Street executives.”

G-20 Criticism of Fed Easing May Be Muted at China Meeting (Bloomberg)
Chinese criticism of the Federal Reserve for flooding the world with money may get little traction among Group of 20 finance chiefs meeting in China as Europe’s debt crisis and Japan’s disaster take precedence. Timothy Geithner, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet will gather in Nanjing for a one-day seminar on the international monetary system tomorrow. A Chinese state economist called for an end to the dollar’s dominance in a paper posted on a website yesterday, blaming the U.S. for fueling inflation. A 9.0-magnitude earthquake in Japan, armed NATO intervention in Libya, and the heightened prospect of a bailout of Portugal are among developments since Sarkozy proposed the meeting seven months ago.

State Tax Revenue Snaps Back (WSJ)
Total tax receipts for state and local governments hit $1.29 trillion in 2010, just 2.3% shy of the $1.32 trillion taken in during 2008, not adjusted for inflation, according to Census Bureau data.

Apollo Global Raises $565.4 Million in Expanded Share Offering (Bloomberg)
Apollo Global Management LLC raised $565.4 million, 13 percent more than it sought, pricing its share sale at the top end of the marketed range and increasing the number of shares sold. The private equity firm founded by Leon Black sold 29.8 million shares at $19 each, the company said yesterday in a statement. Apollo had offered 26.3 million shares at $17 to $19 apiece, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes and “to fund growth initiatives,” the prospectus showed.

Private-Sector Job Growth Continues; Layoffs on Decline (CNBC)
The private sector added 201,000 jobs from February to March, according to a report from ADP that sets the stage for what is expected to be a similarly solid nonfarm employment report from the government later this week…The report signals “across-the-board strength by industry and by size,” Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisors, said on CNBC. In particular, he said the surge in service jobs helps balance the recovery and indicates that critical areas are catching up.

Real Estate Adds To Mets Owners’ Headache (WSJ)
Last year, a loan servicer filed to foreclose on two office buildings in Fairfield, N.J., where the $609 million Sterling American Property V fund defaulted on a $35 million mortgage, according to loan research service Trepp LLC.

Five charged with using children’s coloring books to smuggle drugs (PAC)
Disney-character coloring books arriving at the Cape May County Correctional Center and addressed “To Daddy” in a child’s handwriting were saturated with a narcotic drug as part of a smuggling operation, authorities said Monday. Two inmates at the correctional center, a state prison inmate and two others were charged with distribution of a controlled substance after they allegedly turned Suboxone, a prescription drug designed to treat opioid addiction, into a paste. The paste was then painted onto children’s pictures and sent through inmate mail, Cape May County Sheriff Gary Schaffer said Monday.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Kan Seeks Calm as Japan Tries to Contain Meltdown, Panic Buying (Bloomberg)
Japanese stocks fell after reports of today’s explosion and fire, sending the Topix 9.5 percent lower at the close in Tokyo, the largest one-day slide since October 2008. The gauge has dropped 18 percent since the quake. The central bank injected 8 trillion yen ($98 billion) into the financial system today, on top of a record 15 trillion yen yesterday. “We are in uncharted waters now,” said Kirby Daley, a Hong Kong-based senior strategist with Newedge Group’s prime brokerage business.

Hedge Funds Had Bets Against Japan (WSJ)
In recent years, a chorus of voices has warned that Japan is facing an inevitable crisis to be brought on by a stagnant economy, a shrinking population and the worst debt profile of any major industrialized country. Hedge-fund managers from Kyle Bass of Hayman Advisors LP in Dallas to smaller firms like Commonwealth Opportunity Capital have made money since the earthquake on long-held bets on Japan’s government and corporate bonds.

Marc Faber: If Markets Keep Falling, Fed Will Keep Printing (CNBC)
“We may drop 10 to 15 percent. Then QE 2 will come, (then) QE 4, QE 5, QE 6, QE 7—whatever you want. The money printer will continue to print, that I’m sure,” said the author of the Gloom, Boom and Doom Report. Later in the interview, he added, “Actually I made a mistake. I meant to say QE 18.”

Pandit Picks Emerging Markets as Citigroup Future in New Risk (Bloomberg)
Citigroup now earns more than half its profit from developing countries, Chief Executive Officer Pandit said at a March 9 conference in New York. The bank increased assets in Latin America and Asia by 16 percent to more than $470 billion last year, adding customers in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and India…“If it grows like a weed, maybe it is a weed,” said Mike Mayo, who recommends investors sell Citigroup shares. “They’ve had risk- management mishaps. We’re not convinced the culture has changed enough to prevent similar mishaps from occurring.”

Gaddafi Says European Friends Betrayed Him (Reuters)
“I was really shocked by the attitude of my European friends,” he told the newspaper. “They have damaged and endangered a series of major accords on security that were in their interests and the economic cooperation that we had.”

Fed’s Next Steps Divide Economists as Asset Purchases Slow (Bloomberg)
Of 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News last week, 49 said the Fed will buy the full amount of bonds in a bid to boost the economy. Thirty-one said the central bank won’t adjust the pace or duration of the purchases, as it did in the first round of so-called quantitative easing in 2009-10. Respondents were further divided over how long the Fed will keep its bond portfolio stable after the purchases end, with a plurality of 16 betting on a period of four to six months.

Banking’s Scourge On Charm Offensive (WSJ)
A wall map of the U.S. in the Consumer Protection Bureau’s offices tracks Ms. Warren’s methodical campaign with colored push-pins. Each blue pin records an “in-person meeting w/[Elizabeth Warren], while a red pin means a “one-on-one EW call” and a white pin a “group meeting w/EW.” The map has 47 pins so far.

EU Agrees On Economic Overhaul (WSJ)
Mr. Trichet said the changes aren’t ambitious enough. “We continue to think that the improvement in governance that is presently envisioned is, in our opinion, insufficient to draw the lessons from the crisis we had to cope with,” he said.

Roubini: Yen Will Further Weaken In The Long Run (CNBC)
“Japan is going to need significant depreciation of the yen to increase its net exports because domestic demand is going to be anemic for a while. Therefore on a fundamental basis, the yen is going to be much weaker rather than stronger because you need improvement of external balance given the shock to the domestic economy,” he said.

Japanese Nuclear Plan Radiation Recedes As Engineers Restore Water Level (Bloomberg)
Water supply at reactors No. 1 and No. 3 stabilized and radiation readings at the front gate of the plant dropped to a level that isn’t “harmful to the human body,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said this afternoon in Tokyo. Separately, Tokyo Electric said it hadn’t decided whether to bring workers after the utility evacuated 750 of its 800 employees following this morning’s blast.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Meredith Whitney On State Budgets’ Days Of Reckoning (CBS)
“The most alarming thing about the state issue is the level of complacency,” Meredith Whitney told correspondent Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes. Whitney is warning about a financial meltdown in state and local governments. “It has tentacles as wide as anything I’ve seen. I think next to housing this is the single most important issue in the United States, and certainly the largest threat to the U.S. economy,” she told Kroft. Asked why people aren’t paying attention, Whitney said, “‘Cause they don’t pay attention until they have to.”…”The lack of transparency with the state disclosure is the worst I have ever seen,” Whitney said. “Ultimately we have to use what’s publicly available data and a lot of it is as old as June 2008. So that’s before the financial collapse in the fall of 2008.” Whitney believes the states will find a way to honor their debts, but she’s afraid some local governments which depend on their state for a third of their revenues will get squeezed as the states are forced to tighten their belts. She’s convinced that some cities and counties will be unable to meet their obligations to municipal bond holders who financed their debt.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind that you will see a spate of municipal bond defaults,” Whitney predicted. Asked how many is a “spate,” Whitney said, “You could see 50 sizeable defaults. Fifty to 100 sizeable defaults. More. This will amount to hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of defaults.”

Citi Gal In Suicide Plummet (NYP)
Very sad: Jessica Fashano, 27, plunged from the crest of swanky Trump Place, which rises 40 stories above Riverside Boulevard, and landed face down in a third-floor courtyard just after 8 a.m. on Sunday. Fashano, who cops said had sneaked into the building, landed a job as a Citigroup analyst after graduating from Georgetown University in 2005.

Europe Bankers’ Bonuses Slashed On Weaker Revenues (FT)
More than one in ten bankers and traders in the UK and Europe could receive no bonus this year, as banks slash their year-end pay-outs following weaker revenues. Underperformers will miss out on the billions of pounds of bonuses doled out early next year, with bonus pools expected to be down as much as 20 to 30 percent at most big investment banks, according to Armstrong International, the European executive search firm. “Compensation is being skewed more aggressively than ever,” said Matthew Osborne, a partner at Armstrong. “Banks are saying: ‘Let’s pay only the top revenue generators and the lower-ranked staff, but not the mediocre people in the middle’.”

Insider Trading Probe Could Grow (WSJ)
A key cooperating witness working for the U.S. in a major insider-trading investigation made more than 60 calls with corporate managers, seeking to gather evidence for the government, a person familiar with the probe says. The activity by the witness—who was identified by prosecutors in a complaint unveiled Thursday only as “CW-2″—suggests that the insider-trading investigation could grow significantly from the initial charges. A person familiar with the matter said that witness is Karl Motey, a 46-year-old technology analyst who has agreed to help the U.S. in its insider-trading probe. The government said CW-2 pleaded guilty to securities-fraud charges but doesn’t say when the charges against him were filed or what led to them.

Soros Gold Bubble At $1,384 (Bloomberg)
Globally, the 10 biggest such funds now hold a combined 2,113 metric tons of gold, more than the official reserves accumulated by every country in the world save four: the U.S., Germany, Italy and France. Their popularity has helped drive unprecedented gains for the precious metal, and some people, including analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., say gold can go higher.

Porn appears on Bangladesh airport screen (SMH)
Hundreds of travellers and waiting friends and relatives at the main terminal of the Shahjalal International Airport were shocked as the film was aired for five minutes, magistrate Siddiqa Akhter said. The display screen usually shows recorded documentaries about the culture and geography of Bangladesh, a conservative Muslim country. “The operator has been jailed instantly for two months. We have also summoned the owners of the cable firm to investigate the incident. We have to find out whether any criminal intent was involved,” Akhter said.

European financials see dollar funding gap widen (FT)
Mounting concerns over the eurozone have forced the cost of swapping euros into dollars to the highest level since May, sparking fears that European banks could run into funding difficulties as they need the US currency to repay loans. The costs have been pushed higher because of the strong demand for the dollar, seen as a haven amid the ongoing debt crisis in the eurozone, and the reluctance of some US banks to lend to European banks, dealers say.

Does Marriage Make You Fat? (Reuters)
Breaking: The research, which followed nearly 8,900 adults over several years, found that both men and women who got married during that time tended to experience a dip in cardiovascular fitness, as measured by treadmill tests. In contrast, men who got divorced during the study saw a modest increase in their fitness levels. The findings, reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, do not prove that a change in marital status directly causes the change in fitness — for better or worse. Still, researchers say the results support the notion that once people are married and, presumably, off the dating market, they tend to let themselves go a bit. But if they remain single or get divorced, they have more incentive to get in shape.

Holiday Hiring: People Versus Robots (WSJ)
Zipping around the floor of a Crate & Barrel warehouse in Tracy, Calif., a cadre of 35 orange robots helps solitary human employees do the work of six people. The squat machines carry shelves with the company’s 8,000 different products to people, who pick just the items they need to prepare online orders for shipment—all without walking around the sprawling building. While Crate & Barrel sees orders quadruple during the holiday weeks, this warehouse gets by with just double the employees, about 90 humans, thanks to the robots.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

What was one factor that largely contributed to the financial crisis? According to Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, it was the guys who all thought they were suchhhhh big shots, whose formidable market savvy was matched only by the formidable bulge in their pants. “There are a fair number of the senior folks who actually believe they are uniquely qualified on all issues relating to finance,” Gorman said today. “As we saw, it’s just not true.” These people, Gorman says, need a smack to the face of reality, and it’s not until we break them down and inform them that, no, they are not the market gurus they think they are and, in actuality, that they don’t know shit, that we’ll be able to fix this thing.

Gorman, speaking at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference, said some individuals “who in many cases were frankly pretty average” made as much as 10 times that of people in other industries during the financial crisis…Fixing the culture will require “creating a compensation system that better aligns or balances shareholders’ interests and the broader society’s interests with the individual’s interests, and changing the perception that it’s the individual that’s the hero,” Gorman, 52, said. “As an industry, we can have larger-than-life personalities, but individuals don’t make institutions.”

How do we start? By not encouraging these people with literal and literary blow jobs.

“The more you have this hero individual status, and lots of things written about them by journalist friends in the paper, the more likely that they are going to act out, because they start to believe it,” Gorman said.

Morgan Stanley’s Gorman Says ‘Hero’ Culture Needs To Change

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

BTW, for anyone looking for the actual reason why Susquehanna International Group is allegedly the best firm to work at, the answer may involve the fact that they pretty much just let everyone play poker all day (“poker pervades the culture of SIG”). Something to think about.

Related: If You Don’t Like Playing Poker, Consider Re-Thinking This Career On Wall Street Thing, Says One Firm

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Gallery girls Jaclyn Johnson and Chelsea Matthews, proudly presented their new creative space (No Subject).  L.A. tastemakers had a tremendous turn out, as all wanted to take part in christening the gallery, which looks to house events the evoke ingenuity, creativity, and forward thinking.

If Jason Herber's “No Money Down” series was not enough to capture gallery goers' interest, they could delight in other novelties such as free gifts from American Apparel, an impromptu “take a picture with the no subject sign”, area, and yes, caricatures.  Nothing says “I'm cultured” more than a caricature. This venue's kickoff has set a spiral of events into play.  Less than a week after its first exhibit, the artsy owners are mixing it up with a sample sale.  Make sure you stop by this afternoon a pick up designer duds at discount prices.

Founders of (No Subject) Jaclyn Johnson and Chelsea Matthews said

“We are so excited about the turn out for our first event. DTLA Artwalk really is a night to bring the Downtown community together and we are so excited (No Subject) is apart of that.”

Jaclyn Johnson, Jason Heber, and Chelsea Matthews

Article courtesy of Los Angeles | Guest of a Guest – Los Angeles People, Places, Parties & Nightlife

As previously mentioned, I did a little interview with CNBC’s Trish Regan. We discussed, among other things, her time at DE Shaw and whether or noat Charlie Gasparino and Dennis Kneale are necrophiliacs.

What do you think of the financial reform bill?
I think considering the effect that the banks had on the entire system that it’s understandable people are truly outraged but I do worry that the politicians might take it too far. There’s been talk it might be watered down, though, so that’s a good thing.

You were Miss New Hampshire. Do you feel that any subsequent Miss New Hampshires have lived up to your standards?
I haven’t kept up with the pageant! I don’t know anyone who’s won so I really can’t say.

Was being a beauty queen good training for financial journalism?
Well I learned how to do my make-up which can come in pretty handy but other than that I don’t think there’s a huge connection.

As a former Goldman Sachs employee, do you think all the heat they’ve taken has been warranted? Do you want to rub Lloyd’s gleaming pate and tell him it’s all going to be okay?
I think Goldman is like the Yankees. They’ve been incredibly successful so it’s easy to take shots at them. People love to hate.

After Goldman, you did a stint at DE Shaw. A friend of mine was told by a rather intense representative of the firm that they only hire “geniuses”—are you a genius? The logic follows
[Laughs] Well I’ve never been tested so I couldn’t say. When I was there the culture was very much about being super smart. And you got to wear jeans to work—jeans with hole in them!

What’s next for you professionally? RenTec?
I definitely want to say in news and financial journalism. I love CNBC and I do a lot of other work for other brands within the company, like the Today Show and Nightly News. And I’m doing another documentary.

Part II to Pot?
Yes! This one’s not in California, it’s all over. I was just in Portugal, and we were out in Denver, which is really the emerging market of marijuana.

Have you been forced to partake a lot for research purposes?
You know I’ve actually never smoked pot in my life.
Ever think about changing that?
Probably not, I feel like I’ve made it this long without doing it. I’ve also never eaten ketchup. Maybe I’ll just have one crazy night where I do all the things I’ve never done.

David Shaw, Steve Cohen, George Soros: Who would you want to babysit your kids? Who would you want to father you kids (if Mr. Ben was out of the picture)? Who would you want to pay 2&20 (or 3&50)?
That’s a tough one. I think I’d go with David to baby-sit. For managing my money? Probably have to go with David—
You can’t do that, you picked him as the babysitter.
But he’s so good!
But nothing– these are the rules. You can only use one name per category. You know Steve’s not too shabby with money, why not take him?
Yeah but David’s a genius, remember?
Well actually I didn’t say that someone on his payroll did but okay, then put Steve on babysitting. I’m sure he’d do a good job. Great airplane noises while feeding them.
Okay Steve as babysitter—though he probably wouldn’t be a match for Larry’s skills—and David investing.
And the final category?
I’m very, very happy with my husband.
Don’t doubt that at all. But in our imaginary scenario, he’s out of the picture and you need a donor.
Really, no, very happy with husband.
Pretend I’m putting a gun to your head.
Can’t answer this question—impossible.
Fine– but I just want you to know that George Soros does have feelings.

Alright, let’s move on. I noticed that you didn’t graduate from college until 2000, after finishing high in ’91. What went on in those gap years?
I took some time off to pursue a career as an opera singer.
Why’d you give that up?
I didn’t love it enough. It was something that I wanted to do when I was 14.
What’s your favorite opera?
La Traviata.
Do you sing in the shower?
I have sung in the shower but I don’t anymore because one time our neighbor came over and asked us if we could “turn the volume down on the stereo.”
Wow. The cheek of some people.

Are your daughters going to call Larry Kudlow “Uncle Larry”?
Definitely. He hasn’t babysat yet but he promises and I’m going to be taking him up on that soon.

Pick for the World Cup?
USA, definitely.

The Dealbreaker readers came up with some questions for you. I’m just going to run down the list. Question number 1: How does it feel to be classified as a MILF?
What’s a MILF
It’s…it’s an acronym…it stands for Mother I’d Like to…synonym for word which means to have relations with. It’s a compliment.
Oh, then it feels good.

Question number 2: How do you feel you measured up next to Mandy and her assets?
I think I held my own.

Question number 3: If you had to: Charlie Gasparino or Dennis Kneale? Killing yourself is not an acceptable answer.
I think I would have to kill myself. Or be on life-support.
And then? Who would it be?
You think it would still be appealing for them?
Dennis Kneale and Charlie Gasparino? Yes, one of them would definitely still go for it, if not both.

Question number 4: Just so we can be fair, in that same vein, if you had to get down and dirty with one of the anchorettes on CNBC, whom would you choose?
See this question is just as hard as the last but for the opposite reason. I’m not into women but if I were it would be really difficult. We have a lot of beautiful ladies at CNBC.

Question number 5: Don’t know if you’ve kept up with this story, but a woman named Debrahlee Lorenzana recently claimed she was fired from Citi for being “too hot.” If you have kept up, give us your perspective — is she too hot?
She certainly looks very hot. Though obviously that shouldn’t have had an effect on her job.

Amanda Drury has said she’s coming with us on a field trip to Beamer’s, an establishment in Stamford, CT – are you in?
If Mandy goes I’ll go.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

If you work at Citibank, the answer would apparently be yes, according to Debrahlee Lorenzana, who is suing the bank on the grounds that it fired her for being really good looking. So good looking, apparently, that it distracted them from the hard work they were doing at Citi and had to be stopped. Her boss Craig Fisher and one of his colleagues tried to make her less hot, allegedly, by pulling Lorenzana into an office one day and telling her she had to stop wearing turtlenecks, pencil skirts, three inch heels or “fitted” business suits. When Lorenzana brought up the matter of other females wearing way more revealing clothes, she was told those women’s shapes were different from mine, and I drew too much attention.” Lorenzana like this was kind of a bunch of bull shit (“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Lorenzana recalls. “I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me!’ I was like, ‘Too distracting? For who? For you? My clients don’t seem to have any problem’) so she decided not to change her wardrobe but rather fug herself up a bit by not wearing make-up and not blowing out her hair. She also wrote a couple letters to HR letting them know she was not pleased with how the meeting went but never heard back and her attempts to downplay how hot she was didn’t work either.

“I could have worn a paper bag, and it would not have mattered,” she says. “If it wasn’t my shirt, it was my pants. If it wasn’t my pants, it was my shoes. They picked on me every single day.” Still, she continued to dress up for work—her brand of femininity is also cultural. “Where I’m from,” she says, switching into Spanish to explain it, “women dress up—like put on makeup and do their nails—to go to the supermarket. And I’m not talking trashy, you know, like in the Heights. I was raised very Latin, you know? We’re feminine. A woman in Puerto Rico takes care of herself. The Puerto Rican women here put down our flag.”

A month or so later she received a message from Craig noting that she was being put on final notice for, among other things lagging sales, but there was some shadiness involving the fact that she was cited for being late on days the bank wasn’t even open. Craig also worked Lorenzana’s last nerve when he asked her to move some heavy boxes and told her to put on high heels to do so (she was wearing flip-flops at the time which you would think would’ve passed the dress code). She sent a couple of letters and emails to some VPs (who never responded) and then put in for a transfer, which was granted a few weeks later. Unfortunately, the gig they gave her in the new office was as a telemarketer and Lorenzana’s title is “business banker.” Didn’t much matter though because she was soon canned from the Citi.

In August, her manager at the Rockefeller Center branch—a woman—sat her down and fired her. The female manager mentioned the problems related to her clothing at the previous branch. She did not mention work performance, Lorenzana says. The manager said she was sorry, but Lorenzana wasn’t fit for the culture of Citibank.

Lorenzana knows this is all bull shit, as does her lawyer.

Her attorney, Jack Tuckner, who calls himself a “sex-positive” women’s-rights lawyer, is the first one to say his client is a babe. But so what? For him, it all boils down to self-control. “It’s like saying,” Tuckner argues, “that we can’t think anymore ’cause our penises are standing up—and we cannot think about you except in a sexual manner—and we can’t look at you without wanting to have sexual intercourse with you. And it’s up to you, gorgeous woman, to lessen your appeal so that we can focus!”

So they’ve filed this suit, which will unfortunately never be heard by a judge or jury but will instead go to arbitration. Tuckner is confident they’ve got a case though, but just to make sure, Tuckner “had a professional photographer shoot her in various work outfits in his office near Wall Street,” to prove there’s nothing wrong here.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

“You lookin for a good time?”

Naturally it involves sucking dick for coke. I’m kidding! Though an admitted prostie, Kerviel is not that kind of whore.

Kerviel, 33, has broken a long silence with an autobiography and two newspaper interviews in which he says that his €4.9bn losses in rogue trades in 2006-07 should be blamed on a world banking industry “disconnected from reality”. At his trial, which is due to begin in Paris on 8 June, Kerviel and his lawyers evidently intend to cite the sub-prime crisis and the global financial meltdown of the past two years as the case for the defence. Kerviel also appealed yesterday for other bank employees to break their omert and testify on the “irresponsible” culture which prevailed at his own bank, Societe Generale – and the whole industry.

In his book to be published next week, L’engrenage (“The Vicious Spiral”), Kerviel accepts that he enthusiastically plunged into the culture of the trading floor and that he ignored the official limits placed on his speculative trades. But he says that he rapidly became just “a number” and “a creature without any real identity”. He says that he was “broken by the machine” and treated as a “prostitute” in the “great banking orgy.”

In an interview yesterday with Le Journal du Dimanche, Kerviel said that the bank accepted – and even tacitly encouraged – massive risk-taking, so long as a trader was making profits. “I lived in a world completely disconnected from reality and in many ways irresponsible. The only concern was to make the most possible money in the shortest possible time,” he said.

Rogue trader: ‘I was only a prostitute in great banking orgy’ [NZH via BI]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker