9-11 Insider Traders: Why don't we know who they are—or more importantly—why don't we care?

Sierre Times ^ | 4/14/2003 | Micahel Gaddy

[JohnGalt]

Your faith in the apparently incompetent intelligence community is, in some ways, remarkable and honorable. If 9/11 is a settled issue for you, I think that is great. I think, clearly, that Wilsonian liberalism is part of the debatable politic of contemporary American society and applaud your impassioned defense of wars for UN resolution breaking or even global hegemony.

Me, I still sweat over Waco, wondering if Vince was the only honorable one among the lot, taking his own life after playing a role in killing all those children.

[JohnGalt]

I think that is closer to the issue; even if there was nothing, government investigations have played a historic role in limiting conspiracy theory. (One example being House Republican Clinger determining that Vince Foster did indeed commit suicide-- he bothered to release a report that he believed in.)

The fact that the investigation has gone on for a while now without a closing report inherently implies that a sober, skeptical patriot is required to question why there has been no report, no final word.

[thinden]

..."the most aggressive short fund running at the time of the attack was the firm that was wiped out except for their CEO. Can't think of the name but you all remember it."

would you be attempting to refer to Cantor Fitzgerald? they were officed in WTC and lost most all of their employees.

cantor was never known as an operator of a "short fund". their specialty was US Treasury notes & bonds.

coud you be more specific about your "short fund"?

[thinden]

glad to hear the official party line comrade.

[thinden]

I am a securities regulator. By the time this activity was fully tabulated, end of 10/01. Documents and ID of the accounts compiled, 12/01. Interviews and field investigations, 3/02. Next round of the investigations is plowing through the shell entities, offshore firms, and front orgs located god knows where. That is probably ongoing.

Every time you hear of "charitable organizations" being busted for "possible terrorist ties" think of this article. The people being taken down at this point are either in it up to their eyeballs, or can tell us who is pulling their strings, with a large enough sentence hanging over them.

L,Towm has posted the most plausible explanation (for a trusting soul) that I've seen so far on this subject.

based on previous events like WTC1 & OKC, if the past is any predictor, you've got to wonder if the "investigators" are trying to connect the dots to those involved in hopes of monitoring & surveilling them to "prevent" future disasters?

[MizSterious]

Great commentary--thanks for the ping!

[kinghorse]

Sure,

I believe there were 3 or 4 that got wiped out. I could do the Google search again and try and dig them up but there were numerous hedge funds officed in the Towers.

Before you get too defensive on me, the obvious point to me is that Bin Laden and his crew were at their creative zenith during this horrible time and to think they executed a one dimensional attack is to underestimate their ability to make mischief. I think they probably set up some folks and enjoyed the cold irony of using our markets (and greed!) against us as a by product of their brand of terrorism.

[honway]

An examination of "put options" during this period with the above-mentioned companies would reveal the following: On Sept. 6, 2001, the Thursday before the tragedy, 2,075 put options were made on United Airlines and on Sept. 10, the day before the attacks, 2,282 put options were recorded for American Airlines. Given the prices at the time, this could have yielded speculators between $2 million and $4 million in profit. This averages out to 75 times the number of normal activity on these entities.

No similar trading occurred on any other airlines

-------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the flag. How anyone can dismiss this as normal activity is beyond me. We'll never find out who is responsible because it is part of an "ongoing investigation" and the American people do not have a "need to know" the names of the individuals that profited from the 9-11 attack.

[rubbertramp]

Buzzy Krongard and his minions...right? (sarcasm)

[habs4ever]

You mean David Alger at Fred Alger management? He wasn't a short fund mangager at all, but a growth manager.This idea of "extraordinary" option activity is a crock to any in the biz, and yes, i'm in the biz.The position sizes were marginal at best.2500 contracts isn't going to be the stuff of James Bondian super villans, when the cleanest way to speculate on the mkt was to short the S&P 500 contract in Singapore.Good Lord, the firms would know who placed the orders and so would the Clearing Corp.

[habs4ever]

AMR and other airlines were about the weakest industry group in the S&P from early August to Sept 11.They began to cascade downward well before the attacks and when that happens, its kinda normal for option actvity to increase on high volume stocks.But look at the daily totals and you'd see open interest at 3000 contracts.Pffffff...that's nothing.What would catch a regulators eye would be blocks of 50,000 contracts, but then again, it could be involved in arbitrage for a firm account, such as a conversion, so the high volume may not mean a thing, particulary if it is matched to a NYSE floor order for an equvalent block of stock.

[JohnGalt]

I agree you are providing a reasonable explanation, but Congress has a Consitutional duty (oversight) to put out a report concluding that there is nothing here for the purpose of shutting up conspiracy theories.

You should be as interested as anyone who presupposes nefarious action in demanding that a report be released as soon as possible.

[habs4ever]

Have you considered that it has been looked into and there is nothing there but the vapours of conspiracy theorists?

[JohnGalt]

Yes, that is why you should be as interested as anyone in seeing the Congress put it to rest once and for all, simply to cease conspiracy theory.