[ExI] EP in 10 Easy Steps

[Jordan Hazen]

On Fri, Oct 05, 2007 at 05:13:12PM -0700, hkhenson wrote:
> PS  One of the persistent stories I have read about is that the feds 
> didn't investigate to find who was behind the well known speculation 
> of AA and UAL stock in the days before 9/11 (and won't let it be 
> privately investigated either).  I have no way to verify this 
> story.

The 9/11 Commission Report briefly mentions this briefly, but only in
a footnote.

Note 130, page 499 (p. 516 in the PDF) states:

 130.  Highly publicized allegations of insider trading in advance of
 9/11 generally rest on reports of unusual pre-9/11 trading activity
 in companies whose stock plummeted after the attacks.  Some unusual
 trading did in fact occur, but each such trade proved to have an
 innocuous explanation.  For example, the volume of put options--
 investments that pay off only when a stock drops in price-- surged in
 the parent companies of United Airlines on September 6 and American
 Airlines on September 10-- highly suspicious trading on its face. 
 Yet, further investigation has revealed that the trading had no
 connection with 9/11.  A single U.S.-based institutional investor
 with no conceivable ties to al Qaeda purchased 95 percent of the UAL
 puts on September 6 as part of a trading strategy that also included
 buying 115,000 shares of American on September 10.  Similarly, much
 of the seemingly suspicious trading in American on September 10 was
 traced to a specific U.S.-based options trading newsletter, faxed to
 its subscribers on Sunday, September 9, which recommended these
 trades.  These examples typify the evidence examined by the
 investigation.

 The SEC and the FBI, aided by other agencies and the securities
 industry, devoted enormous resources to investigating this issue,
 including securing the cooperation of many foreign governments.These
 investigators have found that the apparently suspicious consistently
 proved innocuous. Joseph Cella interview (Sept. 16, 2003; May 7, 2004;
 May 10-11, 2004); FBI briefing (Aug. 15, 2003); SEC memo, Division of
 Enforcement to SEC Chair and Commissioners, "Pre-September 11, 2001
 Trading Review," May 15, 2002; Ken Breen interview (Apr. 23, 2004); Ed
 G. interview (Feb. 3, 2004).


Notice that they decline to mention the particular institutional
investor involved, and don't say anything about the suspicious
connection of A. B. Brown / Deutsche Bank to most of these trades.

> My own experience with the government has not been good as you are
> well aware.  I don't think our leaders are that competent enough to
> run 9/11 as an operation.

Not many think the political leadership as a whole had any
involvement.  Certain individuals, perhaps.

-- 
Jordan.