October 25, 2005
From the desk of Jane Galt:Oooops
The oddly named Bawag, an Austrian bank, may have made the worst loan in the living memory of Western financiers. This was the bank that lent Refco's former CEO the money to repay the $430 million in debt he'd been hiding from investors and his board of directors. The collateral for this loan? Why, Mr Bennett's Refco stock, which is now worth about as much as the collection of used hankies that a friend of mine found in one of the drawers of his new apartment. Long or Short, which I highly recommend to everyone, is taking nominations for other worst loans of all time.
Posted by Jane Galt at October 25, 2005 11:17 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksI dunno; in college I once loaned nine honeybees to a friend who unsuccessfully tried to get even on the Monday Night game after a particularly brutal weekend. Given how his method of football gambling included having his girlfriend (truly) put on a cheerleader outfit and do cheers for the team he favored as they watched the game, I was not entirely confident that I would ever see those Ben Franklins again. Coincidentally, I haven't seen him in twenty years. Imagine that.
I'd have to say the bonds of Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts. The guy has walked out on debt investors before. What makes anyone think he'd hesitate to do the same thing again? Donald Trump is the master of the Steve Martin school of corporate finance: "I forgot..."
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