Gawker's take on the WSJ's Bear Stearns downfall 3 parter: It was Eliot Spitzer's and his hooker's fault!: Bear bond traders get the short end of the JPM merger stick; SEC probing Bear trading data

• Sex, Leisure Habits Of Others Sink Bear Stearns
• Bear Bond Traders Odd Men Out in Merger
• SEC Will Scour Bear Trading Data

Sex, Leisure Habits Of Others Sink Bear Stearns - Gawker

The Wall Street Journal is in the midst of a trillion-word ongoing series chronicling the downfall of Wall Street firm Bear Stearns earlier this year. Today's installment looks at the rapid compounding of the firm's financial problems, which builds inexorably into a crisis. That's nice and everything, but the really interesting part comes when the story reveals what threw a wrench into the multibillion-dollar firm's effort to save its public reputation: Eliot Spitzer and his stupid hooker! Not to mention their old card-playing stoner chairman of the board:.....

Bear Bond Traders Odd Men Out in Merger - The Street.com

As it nears completion of its purchase of Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Chase does not appear to be bringing over much of what gave Bear its once-great reputation: fixed-income talent.

JPMorgan said last week that it has made offers to nearly half of Bear's 13,500 employees. However, those likely to stay with the combined firm appear unlikely to include many star traders who helped build Bear's vaunted mortgage-backed securities business, among other jewels on the debt-related side of the house.

For example, Bear Stearns' leveraged finance division -- which includes high-yield bonds, leveraged loans and distressed debt -- is expected to contribute as few as two senior salesmen to JPMorgan out of an estimated 75 executives who reported to Greg Hanley, head of the division, according to people who worked in it. Hanley, who did not return calls to his mobile phone, is also not planning to join JPMorgan.

Personnel decisions are being finalized in advance of the deal's expected closing. Bear shareholders are set to meet Thursday to approve the deal.....

SEC Will Scour Bear Trading Data - Wall Street Journal

Bear Stearns Cos. plans to turn over documents to securities regulators showing that several financial giants, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citadel Investment Group and Paulson & Co., slashed their exposure to the securities firm in the weeks before its collapse.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, as part of an ongoing inquiry into the events surrounding Bear Stearns's implosion in March, has sought and will examine these trading records, people familiar with the matter say. The SEC is expected to use the data to determine whether any trading activity was improperly coordinated in any way, constituted manipulation or otherwise contributed to Bear Stearns's collapse.

The trading records, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, open a window into the frenzied selling that came amid a bank run on Bear Stearns in early to mid-March. In the three weeks preceding Bear Stearns's collapse, Goldman, Citadel and Paulson exited about 400 trades where Bear Stearns was the trading partner, more than any other firms did, the data show. The SEC has asked Bear Stearns to highlight any unusual activity in the trading documents, which Bear Stearns is expected to do soon, according to people familiar with the matter.

The documents don't suggest any improper activity. There could be many reasons why hedge funds and others wanted to limit their exposure to Bear Stearns. And some financial players, including Goldman, simultaneously increased trading exposure to Bear Stearns on some deals even as they cut their risk on others.....