@Forbes: Insider Trading and a Review of the Spitzer Documentary

My Forbes column usually appears on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, my Thursday column appeared on Saturday. Got that?

Go here to read, Accounting Watchdog.

Columns for the week ending November 28, 2010:

One of the big stories last week was the raid on hedge funds by a combination strike force of SEC, FBI and Department of Justice professionals.  Then there was an arrest of a professional at an “expert network” company.  I’ve occasionally been solicited to sign up for one of these services.  But I have not worked for a public company or a consultant to a public company for a while and that’s what these guys want.  Because they are looking for an edge.  It’s a gray area when, as an employee, you can get paid to tell traders about what’s going on at your employer.

Caveat venditor. Caveat emptor.

Insider Trading: Can An Average Investor Find Comfort In The Latest Probe?

The average investor increasingly views the stock market as a rigged game.  The SEC’s headline grabbing arrest of suspected insider traders does little to allay those concerns and, perhaps, reconfirms our fears. Does the SEC really restore investor confidence by going after such low hanging fruit?

The hedge fund industry has become the usual suspect…

Bet you didn’t know I write movie reviews.  I do go out occasionally and I love to go to the theater – live and otherwise.  While I was in New York for the FEI Current Financial Reporting Issues Conference, I took the subway to the Angelika Film Center, somewhere near Soho, to see a documentary about the life and times of Eliot Spitzer.

Before the movie I tried New York Mexican food at Dos Caminos.  A Negro Modelo is a Negro Modelo but I haven’t found a New York Mexican restaurant to compare to any of my favorites in Chicago.  I’ve tried Rosa Mexicana, Rocking Horse and Mexican Radio (when it was still in Nola), too.  None compare to Chicago’s Topolobampo, Adobo, or even El Barco.  Lemme know if you’ve got a suggestion for my next visit.

Client 9: Some Actors in the Fall Of Eliot Spitzer

Alex Gibney’s Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer is a story of acknowledged hubris. Gibney was also the writer, director, and producer of the Oscar-nominated film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. He brings the same kind of suspenseful storytelling to this tale – one we may have thought we already knew…