In the wake of JPMorgan’s ill-conceived hedging strategy, which cost the bank its sterling reputation along with $2 billion and counting, Advanced Trading decided to highlight some of Wall Street’s worst bets ever.
May 21, 2012
4. Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, Bear Stearns
The pair ran hedge funds for Bear Stearns, and like much of the marketplace pre-2008, bet heavily on the subprime mortgage market. But their ill-fated strategy crumbled when the subprime market began to fail during the summer of 2007, and those bad bets cost 300 investors nearly $1.6 billion. Those bets were also the beginning of the end for Bear Stearns, and less than a year later the once-proud firm was sold off to JPMorgan for $2 a share.
