Jim Chanos Stays Away From Expert Networks Like the Plague

Jim Chanos, founder of Kynikos Associates, says as general rule he stays away from expert networks.

” If someone has fiduciary responsibility , an employee, and even an ex-employee with ties to the company,  a lawyer working for a company, an accountant working for a company, you’re on shaky ground, legally”, he said in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday. “And that’s what we were increasingly uncomfortable with with the expert networks. ”

Insider Monkey, your source for free insider trading data, wonders why the Feds didn’t go after the executives of Primary Global Research. Or, why were those who were arrested on insider trading charges yesterday on the consultant side and not on the hedge fund side? Two of them, Walter Shimoon and Manosha Karunatilaka, sold their souls for around $22K and $35K, respectively, over a two year period. Either they were making pennies on the dollar working as Sr. Director of Business Development and Account Manager or, they didn’t realize what they were doing.  Or maybe Shimoon got arrested over such a small return because it involved divulging information about Apple. We all know what the police did to a certain reporter after he checked out a lost but unreleased iPhone.

It makes us think about a doctor by the name of Daniel Carlet. He was seduced by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals years ago to give his honest opinions about one of their drugs to other medical professionals and patients. Slowly but surely, Dr. Carlet was lavished with rewards while being passively intimidated into putting an overall positive spin on the drug. His cautionary tale can be found here.

Preet- we’d be happier if the hedge fund managers were the ones behind bars. We hope you didn’t arrange a deal with them to get to the little guys. Reminder – you are not rooting out corporate corruption when you focus on the account and supply manager-peddlers. Calls made to the US Attorney’s and FBI offices weren’t immediately returned.