"That was the greatest performance I have ever seen in a goalkeeper. It was an honor to be on the field with him."I remember being impressed with this quote. "Romario thinks our keeper is the best. Wow!"
-Brazillian striker on US goalkeeper Kasey Keller, after Brazil's 1998 loss to the United States
Seamus Malin took the wind out of my sails the day after. "Of course Romario thinks he's the greatest. He just lost to him, and he needs to save face."
I learned something that day.
So now, when I hear the French Central bank say that the trader who screwed Société Général out of seven billion dollars is "exceptional" and a computer "genius," I know they are just covering their ass.
The key quote in that NYT article comes from (of all sources for ethical guidance) Cantor Fitzgerald:
Howard Lutnick, chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, said that if one trader had managed to undertake fraud on this scale it revealed bigger weakness in the risk management system of the bank.No kidding. Guy costs his employers seven billion dollars, before anyone notices and (this part I love) the guy is still at large.
“One person could engineer it, but how could one person finance it?” he asked. “The question for the risk management department is: How was this kind of fraud financed? Where did that money come from?”
Of course they're going to get him – just like that dork who brought down Barings but I mean, cripes. You'd think after the first few billion they might have noticed and, um started ratcheting up the scrutiny maybe?
You have to hope that this guy left an "I'm sorry" note before he bolted, that would be too perfect.
Société Général says they are "serene," that's nice – never mind the SWAT team of accountants tearing through the building behind me.
The only thing missing would be "No one could have conceived of this happening," although I'm sure that was floated in their PR sessions.
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