Bob writes:
Laurie Ferber is [general counsel of recently collapsed] MF Global...and was previously a managing director of Goldman Sachs and general counsel of Drexel Burnham Lambert [which also collapsed]. More recently, she co-authored the December 2, 2011 letter to the CFTC arguing against many of the contemplated changes to CFTC Rule 1.25, which governs the investment of customer segregated funds. Yes, the same funds that have gone missing to the tune of over $500 million, which has given the excuse for Trustee Giddens,workingbilling at $891 per hour, to freeze ALL customer cash..billions of dollars spread over 50,000 active accounts. Wehighlighted this letter in our previous expose of MF Global's shady dealings here.
Want more? Bob continues:
It seems Ms. Ferber almost single-handedly made commodities an asset class when she obtained this secret exemption letter from the CFTC, which did not surface until 2008. The letter was written to her by Jean Webb, CFTC Secretary, when Ms. Ferber was General Counsel of J. Aaron & Company, owned by Goldman Sachs. It granted an exemption to speculative position limits in commodities based on the hedging activities related to the Goldman Sachs Commodities Index. Matt Taibbi wrote about this here, but got his facts wrong, confusing the recipient (Ferber) with the sender (Webb).
Below is an excerpt from a post we wrote last year about how the GSCI was unexpectedly rebalanced in the summer of 2006 right as Paulson came into the Bush administration. It was the energy component that was substantially revised downward, which led to immediate forced selling and lower gas prices into the election. From this filing, we know Ferber sat on the GSCI Policy Committee at the time. She would have been the energy expert.Bob's full report is here.
Let's keep track on where she ends up next; strong guess that entity will sink to the bottom of the ocean as well. Can't help but wonder whether these ships ie mfg were brought down intentionally.
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