Gary Weiss
Encyclopedia
Gary Weiss is an American
investigative journalist, columnist and author
of two books that critically examine the ethics and morality of Wall Street
. He was also a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio
.
His Business Week articles exposed organized crime on Wall Street and the Salomon Brothers bond trading scandal in the 1990s, and more recently he has covered the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath."
and attended public schools, including the Bronx High School of Science
. He received degrees from the City College of New York
and the Medill School of Journalism
at Northwestern University
. He worked for news organizations in Connecticut
and Washington, D.C.
, and Barron's
magazine, before joining Business Week magazine in 1986.
, as well as stock fraud and improprieties by brokerages large and small. His articles described widespread improper trading at the American Stock Exchange
and broke the story of the bond trading scandal at Salomon Brothers
in 1991. Weiss also wrote essays and articles critical of the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators., and a 1995 cover story exploring the early manifestations of online investing.
In testimony before a U.S. Senate committee in 1991, Warren Buffett
, then temporarily running Salomon Brothers, said that he learned of a bond trading scandal by reading Weiss' article in Business Week. At the time the article came out, he said, Salomon Brothers was denying a scandal was taking place. Buffett said, "I was not that aware personally about the squeeze, not until I did read that Business Week story."
Weiss authored a cover story
in the April 1, 1996 edition, titled "Fall of the Wizard," that was critical of Julian Robertson
's performance and behavior as manager of hedge fund
Tiger Management
. In response, Robertson sued Weiss and BusinessWeek for $1 billion for defamation. The suit was settled with no money changing hands, and BusinessWeek standing by the substance of its reporting.
After two years of poor performance, the Tiger funds closed in 2000.
Weiss' cover story "The Mob on Wall Street", published in December 1996, described how New York's
organized crime
families had infiltrated brokerage firms in New York and Florida
. The article named the firms and crime figures involved, and described how they defrauded thousands of investors around the country. This story preceded the June 2000 arrest of 120 Mafia
figures for stock fraud by almost four years.
In 1998, Weiss wrote a Business Week commentary calling for strict limits on leverage, saying "limiting leverage may make some high-tech investment strategies difficult or impossible. It might also cut into the derivatives business of banks and Wall Street firms. If that's the case--well, so be it."
Weiss's "Mob on Wall Street" and other Business Week stories were praised by then-FBI Director Louis Freeh
, in a letter published by Business Week in December 2000. Freeh wrote: "Gary Weiss has done our nation an invaluable service by reporting the manipulation of the stock market by elements of organized crime. By outlining specific stocks and stock brokerage firms that were controlled by organized crime, he opened the door for FBI investigations in Florida and in New York, and for that we owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude."
-linked stockbroker named Louis Pasciuto. The book describes how Wall Street firms were infiltrated by organized crime
figures during the 1990s.
Wall Street Versus America, published in April 2006, is described as an "attack, using humor and ridicule" on the morality of Wall Street, its regulators and the financial press
. The book is critical of hedge funds, mutual funds, and the Wall Street securities arbitration process, as well as the New York Stock Exchange
. The book is also critical of former Securities and Exchange Commission chairmen Arthur Levitt
and William H. Donaldson
. The book is strongly critical of the campaign against naked short selling
, because Weiss believes it threatens the ability of short sellers to deflate pump-and-dump
schemes, thus providing cover to the scam artists behind such schemes.
In the book and in articles, Weiss singled out the Bear Stearns
securities firm for criticism.
Weiss's comments on anti-naked-shorting activists have provoked some negative responses, including threats.
, a global media alliance organized by investigative journalist Richard Behar
investigating the July 2004 murder of Paul Klebnikov
, editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of Forbes
magazine, and other subjects.
Weiss was "Muckraker
" columnist for Forbes.com from November 2006 through March 2008.
Weiss has also been a contributor to The New York Times
op-ed page and to Salon
, writing on such topics as executive pay and public ownership of newspapers. He also has been critical of the treatment of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz
, opposed astroturfing
, argued against Wal-Mart
's new venture in India, and criticized Overstock.com
CEO Patrick Byrne
and his campaign against naked short selling
.
He became a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio
in October 2008. His articles included profiles of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, among the first articles pointing out his ties with Wall Street bankers, as well as profiles of Vikram Pandit, John Thain of Merrill Lynch and hedge fund manager John Paulson.
After the closing of Portfolio, Weiss continued to write for the surviving Portfolio website, writing a weekly column, "The Weiss File" through December 2010.
In a January 2010 article by Roddy Boyd in "The Big Money", Weiss was described, along with other investigative journalists such as Joseph Nocera
and Bethany McLean
, as among "the reporters who have done the epic and heavy lifting in holding American businesses accountable for problematic practices in the past 20 years," and thus have been targeted for attack by corporate interests.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
investigative journalist, columnist and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
of two books that critically examine the ethics and morality of Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
. He was also a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio
Condé Nast Portfolio
Portfolio.com is a website published by American City Business Journals that provides news and information for small to mid-sized businesses. It was formerly the website for the monthly business magazine Condé Nast Portfolio, published by Condé Nast from 2007 to 2009.Portfolio.com is continually...
.
His Business Week articles exposed organized crime on Wall Street and the Salomon Brothers bond trading scandal in the 1990s, and more recently he has covered the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath."
Education and early career
Weiss grew up in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and attended public schools, including the Bronx High School of Science
Bronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science is a specialized New York City public high school often considered the premier science magnet school in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is now located in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx...
. He received degrees from the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
and the Medill School of Journalism
Medill School of Journalism
The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University which offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It has consistently been one of the top-ranked schools in Journalism in the United States...
at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. He worked for news organizations in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and Barron's
Barron's Magazine
Barron's is an American weekly newspaper covering U.S. financial information, market developments, and relevant statistics. Each issue provides a wrap-up of the previous week's market activity, news reports, and an informative outlook on the week to come....
magazine, before joining Business Week magazine in 1986.
Magazine articles
Between 1986 and 2004 Weiss wrote investigative articles for Business Week, including cover stories on the dangers of the InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, as well as stock fraud and improprieties by brokerages large and small. His articles described widespread improper trading at the American Stock Exchange
American Stock Exchange
NYSE Amex Equities, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange is an American stock exchange situated in New York. AMEX was a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known as the New York Curb Exchange. On January 17, 2008, NYSE Euronext announced it would acquire the...
and broke the story of the bond trading scandal at Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers was a bulge bracket, Wall Street investment bank. Founded in 1910 by three brothers along with a clerk named Ben Levy, it remained a partnership until the early 1980s, when it was acquired by the commodity trading firm Phibro Corporation and then became Salomon Inc. Eventually...
in 1991. Weiss also wrote essays and articles critical of the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators., and a 1995 cover story exploring the early manifestations of online investing.
In testimony before a U.S. Senate committee in 1991, Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. Often introduced as "legendary investor, Warren Buffett", he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is...
, then temporarily running Salomon Brothers, said that he learned of a bond trading scandal by reading Weiss' article in Business Week. At the time the article came out, he said, Salomon Brothers was denying a scandal was taking place. Buffett said, "I was not that aware personally about the squeeze, not until I did read that Business Week story."
Weiss authored a cover story
Cover story
Cover story may refer to:* a story in a magazine whose subject matter appears on its front cover* a fictitious account that is intended to hide one's real motive, e.g. when a terrorist pretends to be farmer to buy fertilizer or to provide an explanation in case it is found; the story in the case of...
in the April 1, 1996 edition, titled "Fall of the Wizard," that was critical of Julian Robertson
Julian Robertson
Julian H. Robertson Jr., KNZM is an American former hedge fund manager. Now retired, Robertson invests directly in other hedge funds, most run by former employees of Robertson's defunct hedge fund company....
's performance and behavior as manager of hedge fund
Hedge fund
A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...
Tiger Management
Tiger Management
Tiger Management Corp., also known as "The Tiger Fund," was a hedge fund founded by Julian Robertson. The fund began investing in 1980 and was closed in March 2000.-History:...
. In response, Robertson sued Weiss and BusinessWeek for $1 billion for defamation. The suit was settled with no money changing hands, and BusinessWeek standing by the substance of its reporting.
After two years of poor performance, the Tiger funds closed in 2000.
Weiss' cover story "The Mob on Wall Street", published in December 1996, described how New York's
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
families had infiltrated brokerage firms in New York and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. The article named the firms and crime figures involved, and described how they defrauded thousands of investors around the country. This story preceded the June 2000 arrest of 120 Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
figures for stock fraud by almost four years.
In 1998, Weiss wrote a Business Week commentary calling for strict limits on leverage, saying "limiting leverage may make some high-tech investment strategies difficult or impossible. It might also cut into the derivatives business of banks and Wall Street firms. If that's the case--well, so be it."
Weiss's "Mob on Wall Street" and other Business Week stories were praised by then-FBI Director Louis Freeh
Louis Freeh
Louis Joseph Freeh was the 5th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, serving from September 1993 to June 2001....
, in a letter published by Business Week in December 2000. Freeh wrote: "Gary Weiss has done our nation an invaluable service by reporting the manipulation of the stock market by elements of organized crime. By outlining specific stocks and stock brokerage firms that were controlled by organized crime, he opened the door for FBI investigations in Florida and in New York, and for that we owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude."
Books
Born to Steal, published in 2003, reports on a MafiaMafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
-linked stockbroker named Louis Pasciuto. The book describes how Wall Street firms were infiltrated by organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
figures during the 1990s.
Wall Street Versus America, published in April 2006, is described as an "attack, using humor and ridicule" on the morality of Wall Street, its regulators and the financial press
Business journalism
Business journalism is the branch of journalism that tracks, records, analyzes and interprets the economic changes that take place in a society...
. The book is critical of hedge funds, mutual funds, and the Wall Street securities arbitration process, as well as the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
. The book is also critical of former Securities and Exchange Commission chairmen Arthur Levitt
Arthur Levitt
Arthur Levitt, Jr. was the twenty-fifth and longest-serving Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission from 1993 to 2001. Widely hailed as a champion of the individual investor, he has been criticized for not pushing for tougher accounting rules. Since May 2001 he has been...
and William H. Donaldson
William H. Donaldson
William Henry Donaldson was the 27th Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission , serving from February 2003 to June 2005...
. The book is strongly critical of the campaign against naked short selling
Naked short selling
Naked short selling, or naked shorting, is the practice of short-selling a financial instrument without first borrowing the security or ensuring that the security can be borrowed, as is conventionally done in a short sale. When the seller does not obtain the shares within the required time frame,...
, because Weiss believes it threatens the ability of short sellers to deflate pump-and-dump
Microcap stock fraud
Microcap stock fraud is a form of securities fraud involving stocks of "microcap" companies, generally defined in the United States as those with a market capitalization of under $250 million. Its prevalence has been estimated to run into the billions of dollars a year...
schemes, thus providing cover to the scam artists behind such schemes.
In the book and in articles, Weiss singled out the Bear Stearns
Bear Stearns
The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. based in New York City, was a global investment bank and securities trading and brokerage, until its sale to JPMorgan Chase in 2008 during the global financial crisis and recession...
securities firm for criticism.
Weiss's comments on anti-naked-shorting activists have provoked some negative responses, including threats.
Recent career
Weiss is a founding member of Project KlebnikovProject Klebnikov
Project Klebnikov is a global media alliance dedicated to investigating the July 2004 murder of journalist Paul Klebnikov and other subjects. The organization's goals also include investigating cases of other journalists killed in Russia, continuing Klebnikov's legacy of investigative journalism,...
, a global media alliance organized by investigative journalist Richard Behar
Richard Behar
Richard Behar is an award-winning American investigative journalist who has written on the staffs of leading magazines including Forbes, Time and Fortune over a 22-year period from 1982-2004. His work has also appeared on CNN and PBS...
investigating the July 2004 murder of Paul Klebnikov
Paul Klebnikov
Paul Klebnikov was a Russian-American journalist and historian of Russian history. He worked for Forbes Magazine for over 10 years and at the time of his death was Chief editor of the Russian edition. His murder in Moscow in 2004 was seen as a blow against investigative journalism in Russia...
, editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine, and other subjects.
Weiss was "Muckraker
Muckraker
The term muckraker is closely associated with reform-oriented journalists who wrote largely for popular magazines, continued a tradition of investigative journalism reporting, and emerged in the United States after 1900 and continued to be influential until World War I, when through a combination...
" columnist for Forbes.com from November 2006 through March 2008.
Weiss has also been a contributor to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
op-ed page and to Salon
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, writing on such topics as executive pay and public ownership of newspapers. He also has been critical of the treatment of World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz
Paul Wolfowitz
Paul Dundes Wolfowitz is a former United States Ambassador to Indonesia, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, President of the World Bank, and former dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University...
, opposed astroturfing
Astroturfing
Astroturfing is a form of advocacy in support of a political, organizational, or corporate agenda, designed to give the appearance of a "grassroots" movement. The goal of such campaigns is to disguise the efforts of a political and/or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some...
, argued against Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
's new venture in India, and criticized Overstock.com
Overstock.com
Overstock.com , also known by its shortcut, O.co, is an online retailer headquartered in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, near Salt Lake City. Founded in 1997 by Robert Brazell, under the name D2: Discounts Direct, it was a pioneering online seller of surplus merchandise which, upon its failure in 1999,...
CEO Patrick Byrne
Patrick M. Byrne
Patrick M. Byrne is the president, CEO, and chairman of the board of directors of Internet retailer Overstock.com. In 1999, Byrne took control of the company, then called D2: Discounts Direct, and changed its name to Overstock...
and his campaign against naked short selling
Naked short selling
Naked short selling, or naked shorting, is the practice of short-selling a financial instrument without first borrowing the security or ensuring that the security can be borrowed, as is conventionally done in a short sale. When the seller does not obtain the shares within the required time frame,...
.
He became a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio
Condé Nast Portfolio
Portfolio.com is a website published by American City Business Journals that provides news and information for small to mid-sized businesses. It was formerly the website for the monthly business magazine Condé Nast Portfolio, published by Condé Nast from 2007 to 2009.Portfolio.com is continually...
in October 2008. His articles included profiles of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, among the first articles pointing out his ties with Wall Street bankers, as well as profiles of Vikram Pandit, John Thain of Merrill Lynch and hedge fund manager John Paulson.
After the closing of Portfolio, Weiss continued to write for the surviving Portfolio website, writing a weekly column, "The Weiss File" through December 2010.
In a January 2010 article by Roddy Boyd in "The Big Money", Weiss was described, along with other investigative journalists such as Joseph Nocera
Joseph Nocera
Joseph "Joe" Nocera is an American business journalist and author. He became a business columnist for The New York Times in April 2005. In March 2011, Nocera became a regular opinion columnist for The Times' Op-Ed page, writing on Tuesdays and Saturdays...
and Bethany McLean
Bethany McLean
Bethany McLean is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair magazine, and known for her work on the Enron scandal and the 2008 financial crisis...
, as among "the reporters who have done the epic and heavy lifting in holding American businesses accountable for problematic practices in the past 20 years," and thus have been targeted for attack by corporate interests.