Dinosaur Derivatives and Other Trades

9 What is Fraud?When We Meet the Bad

“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is set in them to do evil.”

Ecclesiastes, Chapter 8, Verse 11

Ron met Frank in the former's office in Chicago about six years ago. It was hard to tell whether Frank was wearing a toupee or not. The bulk of his hair appeared to levitate, ever so slightly, above his skull, but it was quite natural-looking hair, so it may have been the real thing. To this day Ron does not know if the hair is real or not.

Frank had the usual permatan, with a small mark on the left-hand side of his chin—probably the beginning of a melanoma from too much sun (or sunbed) exposure.

You would instinctively mark Frank down as a typical lizard that you see on a regular basis in the money business. Nothing very special in that, and his plastic look was mere noise. He represented himself as, and had all the air of, a long-term Wall Street veteran. Ron, whilst having been a successful wealth manager in his own right, was on the other hand, a more sensitive guy. He too had a large shock of hair, but it was certainly the real thing. Ron was an old friend of mine, actually a man I have a great deal of time for. It is he who told me the tale around the core events I am now ...