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Meet Wall Street's Most Shameless Failures

'Mulligan Club' keeps hustling disastrous securities

By Drew Nelles,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 2, 2009 10:00 AM CDT

(Newser) – You'd think the men who hyped and traded the financial instruments responsible for the recession wouldn't be allowed to touch another dollar. Instead, they’re “charter members of Wall Street's Mulligan Club,” Steven Pearlstein writes in the Washington Post, buying and trading the same "crappy securities" like “golfers who treat themselves to a second drive after hooking the first one deep into the woods.”

Stanford Kurland is partially responsible for running Countrywide Financial into the ground, but he's recently raised hundreds of millions of dollars for his new company; Jay Levine moved from heading RBS Greenwich Capital to making a $5 million salary at Capmark Financial Group and assembling his own trading house. Just who would give these men more money? Why, “other members of the Mulligan Club,” says Pearlstein, who are “clever enough to know that some day they, too, might be looking for a second swing at the ball.”

A Wall St. street sign is shown in front of the American flag hanging on the New York Stock Exchange.
A Wall St. street sign is shown in front of the American flag hanging on the New York Stock Exchange.   (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, file)
A sign of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) at a branch in central London.
A sign of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) at a branch in central London.   (AP Photo/Sang Tan)
After nearly three decades at Countrywide Financial Corp., now absorbed by Bank of America, Stanford Kurland started Private National Mortgage Acceptance Co.
After nearly three decades at Countrywide Financial Corp., now absorbed by Bank of America, Stanford Kurland started Private National Mortgage Acceptance Co.   (AP Photo/PennyMac)
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COMMENTS
Showing 2 of 2 comments
wwwonderer
Sep 2, 2009 7:15 AM CDT
DJ, add to it getting all your 'competent' friends jobs in positions for which they are 'qualified'. Real nice situation.
ChickenChopper
Sep 2, 2009 4:07 AM CDT
shocker... no diff than running the rangers into the ground then getting to be a guvna/prez and running that into the ground

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