Thread by @arapaho415

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio 1/ It's interesting that you should mention this because here's a really interesting reply to me from yesterday. I don't understand how money laundering works, but the sources in the Medium article were extremely helpful, ICYMI:

https://twitter.com/a_team1983/status/1080150385031954432

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio 2/ It's way out of my league to even understand what this Medium article is saying (the article explains clearly, I'm not sure my understanding is correct), so can't assess if its premise is right, but Deutsche Bank is *key*:
From Oct 14, 2014:
motherjones.com/politics/2014/…

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio 3/ "In 1999, Deutsche Bank—which did not respond to requests for comment—approached Renaissance and offered to package all of the Medallion fund’s investments into a portfolio, or “basket,” that was held in the bank’s name. (con't)

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio 4/ ... Under this arrangement, Renaissance would still control the trades and reap all the profits (minus the bank’s generous fees). But it didn’t have to pay short-term capital gains taxes on the underlying assets, even if they were only held for a few hours or days. (con't)

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio 5/ … (Short-term gains are taxed at 39% for the highest earners; long-term gains are taxed at roughly half that rate.)"
*This*⤵️ sounds really dangerous to global financial system (i.e., 2008 financial meltdown) to me:
"The basket options also allowed Renaissance... (con't)

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio 6/ ...to skirt federal leverage limits. Normally, hedge funds can borrow a maximum of $2 for every $1 of their own capital they use to finance assets through brokerage accounts. But under its agreement with Deutsche Bank, Renaissance managed to borrow nearly 10 times that sum."🤔

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio 7/ "Then, in 2007, the first tremors of the financial crisis hit, and the quantitative hedge fund industry that Simons had helped pioneer suffered enormous losses, partly because the turmoil had short-circuited trading algorithms. (con't)

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio 8/ Suddenly, these companies found themselves under federal scrutiny, & economists began pondering whether they posed a risk to the financial system."
"In May [2009], the @WSJ reported...the Securities & Exchange Commission had begun inspecting the company’s books." (more...)

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio @WSJ 9/ "Simons resigned as CEO in November 2009 (though he remained chairman of the board) and handed the reins to Robert Mercer and Peter Brown. Meanwhile, the turmoil continued. The following spring, the Dow Jones Industrial plunged 1,000 points, only to rebound... (con't)

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio @WSJ 10/ a few minutes later. It was the largest one-day swing in the Dow’s history. And, according to an SEC investigation, it was due largely to high-frequency trading, which now accounted for 60% of all market transactions." #FlashCrash (con't)

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio @WSJ 11/ After the 'flash crash,' quantitative hedge funds found themselves under greater scrutiny. In Nov 2010, the Internal Revenue Service, which had been investigating Renaissance’s use of options to avoid taxes, issued a generic public memo." (more...)
irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/am…

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio @WSJ 12/ "As federal agents pored over its books, Renaissance launched a political offensive. The company, which had been doing very little lobbying, spent $240,000 lobbying in 2010. The following year, it spent $740,000, almost all of it advocating on tax issues." (more...)

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio @WSJ 13/ On to Deutsche Bank which was fined millions for mirror trading by Russian🇷🇺 middlemen for oligarchs. These middlemen purchased shares in rubles while simultaneously selling for dollars or pounds in the British Virgin Islands🇻🇬.
From Oct 29, 2016:
newyorker.com/magazine/2016/…

@lovetogive2 @kelly2277 @ThomasS4217 @MingGao26 @WendySiegelman @DrDenaGrayson @RepPeterDeFazio @WSJ 14/ Like all @NewYorker articles tl;dr🙄, but a good source of info on how deeply corrupt Deutsche Bank is, how its manager during this scheme (2011-2015) was paid millions and is on the lam somewhere (perhaps Bali🇮🇩? or Russia🇷🇺?).
Of note⤵️: