Lying is Apparently OK on Wall Street

If you’ve ever needed another reason why you should stick your money in real estate (or at least in your mattress), Bloomberg Businessweek’s recent article, When Does Bargaining Become Fraud, should be the final straw.

Apparently, at least according to one US court decision, it is ok to lie to your clients on Wall Street. This should come as no surprise to anyone who thinks the markets are built for the benefit of insiders as opposed to the investing public.

The conviction of Jesse Litvak, a former bond trader for Jefferies & Co, who admitted he lied to buyers about the prices he paid for his bonds, was overturned by an appeals court because “his actions were in keeping with how Wall Street does business.”

Are you freaking kidding me?

If a realtor lies to her/his clients or customers in this province, s/he is in contradiction of the RECO (Real Estate Council for Ontario) code of ethics and is a pile of hurt. 

So get real–buy more real property not more Wall Street (or Bay Street) BS.

@ profbruce @ quantum_entity

postscript: the only other industry where it appears to be alright to lie to your stakeholders is politics. Dalton McNaughty (err McGuinty) told Ontario voters during his first election campaign he would not raise taxes (in fact, he signed a pledge to that effect); six weeks after taking office as premier, he brought in the largest tax increase in Ontario’s’ history–the Ontario Health Tax. He was re-elected two more times after that as I recall.