They used to be a thing, but the law has been changed to make them no longer a thing.
Definitely a bear market for tech workers.
In what way were they untraceable? Did they not have serial numbers?
Back in the 80s? Sort of maybe, in theory, but probably not, and in practice definitely not. Back in the 80s you did have true bearer bonds, and investors might actually hold the physical bonds themselves. So, in theory, yes. However, the idea that bearer bonds are sacrosanct is a persistent myth. People lost their bearer bonds all the time, and you just notified the bond trustee of the serial numbers and so long as you had a good verifiable chain of title you would get a replacement certificate.
But sure as hell if someone stole millions/billions of bearer bonds the bond trustee would be notified of the serial numbers of the stolen bonds, and if anyone ever tried to cash them in the police would be waiting with nickel plated bracelets.
It’s a movie Maguffin. Makes for a good plot, but couldn’t really work in the real world. Still a great film.
Yeah kinda what I figured.
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It’s possible that bearer bonds that have been used in money laundering and criminal enterprises (such as in Heat) wouldn’t have an easily verifiable chain of title.
I’m not certain that guy knows what he’s talking about. Assuming the bearer bonds were something super common like US Treasuries, I’m not sure it would just be that easy to report them stolen and then every bank would be on the look out for them. I think it would be similar to if you stole a bunch of market bills from a bank - yeah, the cops know the serial numbers, but there are plenty of ways to launder them if you’re smart. Obviously the bigger the denominations the harder it would be, so stealing billions in Die Hard is going to be harder than stealing $1.6 million in Heat (which could have just been a bunch of $10k bonds that might not have been that hard to move).
The is a real world example as one of the largest robberies occurred in 1990 when a crime syndicate stole $300 million in mostly bearer bonds from a courier in London. Ultimately, they were not able to launder the funds before being caught, but my understanding is that it would have been possible.
At first, it seemed the operation had gone according to plan, despite The Times reporting the next day that the heist had gathered a “worthless haul” and that “the perpetrator stands to make not a penny from the crime”;[6] the Bank of England was supplying false information to the media on purpose; whilst it had informed financial institutions worldwide of the serial numbers, the bonds could still be cashed.[7]
Seems like they nabbed all the crooks by posing as potential fences. All but 2 of the 301 bonds were recovered and it’s not clear if any were ever redeemed for cash.
I just watched Margin Call, and the Lehman Brothers parallels are obvious. But I wonder if the movie is also based on Goldman, who basically managed to be the first out the door on MBSs.
The chief executive officer John Tuld (Jeremy Irons) is a combination of Merrill Lynch’s ex-CEO John Thain and Lehman Brother’s ex-CEO Dick Fuld.
The investment bank in the movie is not Lehman Brothers. “It’s not Lehman and this bank in the movie is still in business,” Chandor said.
Obviously he might be saying that for lawsuit reasons. But didn’t Lehman go under in basically one day? I wonder if he might be hinting more at Goldman, w/o wanting to anger them for obvious reasons.
Right - they are not easy to move, but they can be moved.
Also just rewatched margin call last week. Great movie.
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Totally agree…. I know Kevin Spacey is a terrible human, but he’s a fantastic actor. Jeremy Irons was great too.
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It’s been years so I forget the story, but I believe Jeremy Irons was not originally supposed to play that role. He replaced someone last minute - I want to say Anthony Hopkins or Ian McKellen but I could be wayyyy off on that.
Fun fact - I have a (largely undeserved) credit in Margin Call.
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Tell us more!
My cousin was a producer on the film. It was very low budget (especially considering the cast they got) and they were looking to barter brand placement for lodging while filming. I put him in touch with a contact or two that didn’t lead to anything - I assume they cut a deal with SoHo Grand since they got prominent placement in the movie. Much to my surprise I got a “thanks” credit (for trying, I guess.)
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It really is a great movie. For some reason, I was really late to the game on this one. I had read The Big Short and was excited to see the film version. I didn’t end up seeing Margin Call until a few years later, and it now seems obvious that Margin Call is the better movie.
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My father received a letter about abandoned property. He had some sort of policy at Sun Life Financial (life insurance, I believe), which has partnered with a firm (Abandoned Property Advisors) to locate and contact US shareholders. (This relationship is verified on Sun Life’s website.) They take 10% of the value of shares and uncashed dividend checks, plus 3% surety bond for lost share certificates. It feels like a lot, but APA does have solid reviews (4.96/5 at BBB).
If I read the documents correctly, he has around 600 shares (currently around $49 each) and a few thousand in uncashed dividend checks. Is it worth it to take the longer route of working directly with the stock transfer agent or will it be so much easier and faster to deal with this that it’s worth taking the hit?
He also might try to transfer the stocks to my nieces. I think he should just cash out and use that money to buy them different stocks if he really wants to invest for them. Is there any reason why one option or the other is superior?
I would just have him accept the offer and cash the checks. There’s no reason for you or him to stress out on trying to earn the extra 10% on money he didn’t even know he had.
In addition, the third party company already earned their fee by locating your dad and presumably being willing to handle all of the paperwork on their end. I’d feel kind of sleezy trying to go around them at this point.
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Just saw it’s available for free.
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watch it all. today.
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Summary of the current Tingo situation:
Hindenburg: Tingo is the most blatant scam we’ve ever seen in our years of doing this. We spoke to Joey Gallo and he never even heard of Tingo.
Stock crashes.
Tingo: We’ve investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing! Our accounting errors were mere typos. Also, it’s Joey Callo, not Joey Gallo.
Stock doubles in 30 minutes.
Hindenburg: Yeah no, Joey Gallo is what’s in your SEC filings. Are you lying now or did you lie to the SEC? And who the hell is Joey Callo?
Stock crashes again.
SEC: crickets.wav
Tingo: We’ve reinvestigated ourselves and confirm that there has been no wrongdoing!
Stock moves up 10%
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