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Even the Fabulous Fab

... looks fabulous.


For a story on the opening of the trial, go here:

Dealbook. 

By the way, if you already know the basics of the Tourre trial, if you make a point of following such things, you are excused. because I don't plan on getting very deeply into this today.

For those of you still with me then, the central figure in the photo nearby is Fabrice Tourre, who was famous not too long ago. Indeed, one might have thought that his trial would be a major circus.  But the circuses are elsewhere just now. What with Zimmerman's acquittal, a new royal baby, the latest news about Mr. Weiner, and the bankruptcy of Detroit, the Tourre trial is passing under the radar.

Tourre was a mid-level trader at Goldman Sachs who was involved in some of the Abacus trades.

He and Goldman have gone their separate ways. But Goldman Sachs is still paying for his defense costs. This sounds awkward. What if his best defense is to pass the buck upward?

At any rate, Tourre certainly can write an entertaining email, which is in part what has gotten him in trouble. In the most quoted of his emails (January 2007) he boasted to a girlfriend of the "only potential survivor, the fabulous Fab ... standing in the middle of all these complex, highly leveraged, exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstrosities."

So he spoke of himself as having "created" the monstrosities -- an effort to pass the buck upward would have to involve saying something like, "I made that claim to impress the girl, but it was really my boss who...."

And, unsurprisingly, he has now taken the stand to say what he had to say in that regard.


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