Wall $treet Folly

There's something just a bit absurd about Jerome Kerviel's former manager suing him for ruining his career

Despite an internal report that found that Jerome Kerviel's managers had received 76 alerts over his trades over an 18 month period, for some strange reason, some of his managers seem to feel that even though they were asleep at the wheel that they don't bear any responsibility for their poor oversight.  In fact, at least one of them facing disciplinary charges for not reining him in is suing Kerviel for fucking up his career and that he had "suffered moral harm" as a result.  Go figure.  According to the Times of London:

Eric Cordelle, 36, has applied to become a civil plaintiff in the criminal case against Mr Kerviel, paving the way for a damages claim under French law.

Mr Cordelle is one of several managers at the French bank facing disciplinary procedures for failing to stop the rogue trader. According to Le Figaro, the French daily, he could be sacked - bringing an end to a brilliant career which saw him appointed as head of Mr Kerviel's desk last spring after a four-year stint in Tokyo.

Maître Jean-René Farthouat, his lawyer, said that he had “suffered moral harm”, entitling him to become a party to the case against Mr Kerviel.

Who was that masked man?: Joe Herrick, the conference call hoaxer, baffles us

Where's "Joe Herrick of Gutterman Research" gonna strike next?:  Something strange has been going on on recent conference calls.  A guy impersonating real analysts has been dialing in -- to Molson, Pepsi, Dean Foods, Newell Rubbermaid among the growing list of companies, and asking bizarre but so far, harmless technical sounding questions.  We were on one of the calls -- it was odd.  But what baffles us -- and apparently many others -- is his motive.  The questions are incongruous, and aren't really funny other than the fact that he successfully gets to ask them -- he tries to blend in but clearly doesn't if you listen carefully.  They aren't hostile or noticeably disruptive either.  He seems to be kind of like a conference call Zorro, swooping in, making his presence known, leaving his trademark comments and disappearing.  No one knows who he is and what his game is other than maybe just trying to prove that he can successfully infiltrate calls.  But companies are now creating more elaborate screens so that he can't get in.....

At least seven times just the past three weeks, a mystery caller has cleverly insinuated himself into the normally well-manicured ritual of the quarterly calls. As top executives of publicly traded companies respond to securities analysts' questions about their balance sheets, he impersonates a well-known analyst to get called upon. Then, usually declaring himself to be "Joe Herrick of Gutterman Research," he launches into his own version of analyst-speak.

"Congratulations on the solid numbers -- you always seem to come through in challenging times," he said to Leo Kiely, president and chief executive officer of Molson Coors Brewing Co., on Feb. 12, convincingly parroting the obsequious banter common to the calls. "Can you provide some more color as to what you are doing for your supply chain initiatives to reduce manufacturing costs per hectoliter, as you originally promised $150 million in synergy or savings to decrease working capital?"