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More details have emerged in the saga of Jason Lee, the Goldman Sachs managing director who has been formally charged with rape. At his arraignment last week in Suffollk County, Long Island, he pleaded not guilty to first-degree rape and left the court with his wife after posting $100,000 bond.

But not before prosecutors released more details, which until now had been sparse.

The narrative according to police, as noted by Bloomberg, is as follows:

"Lee was arrested by East Hampton town police Aug. 20, his 37th birthday, after a 20-year-old woman told them she first met Lee at a nightclub on Wainscott Stone Road and he bought her and friends drinks, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office said in a statement.

"Lee invited the woman and her friends to his house, and at about 4 a.m., the woman said, Lee was naked when he tried to follow her into a bathroom and he shoved the door with such force that she fell to the floor, where he pinned her down, according to the district attorney's statement. She struggled and during the attack kneed him in the groin, she told police, according to the statement."

After the police determined there might have been crime, the alleged victim was taken to a hospital and examined by a nurse trained in sexual assault cases. The determination following the exam was that her injuries, "which included bruises on her body -- were consistent with her allegations."

Lee maintains the activity was consensual.

Increasingly, it looks like this is not really a Duke Lacrosse situation. Something happened, and now it will take a trial to determine exactly what and who is to blame.

For more:
- here's the article
- here's the NYPost's article

Read more about: Enforcement Action
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2. A big day for JOBS Act

By Jim Kim

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3. Citigroup bond trading revenue to take a hit

Two big JOBS Act milestones have been reached: provisions that allow for easier financing via social media and the Internet and that allow for more advertising by alternative investment providers take effect as of this week.

It remains unclear if these provisions will make much of a difference. In the case of the former, emerging growth companies are now able to tap social media and other online fund raising sites for up to $1 million a year, a boon to the crowdsourcing movement. In the case of the latter, hedge funds and other alternatives will be able to advertise their services much more broadly, even targeting the retail masses. In both cases, however, accreditation standards are still in effect.

Indeed, the bigger impact may be in the future when accreditation standards are relaxed. Currently, accredited investors are those with an individual or joint net worth exceeding $1 million or income exceeding $200,000 in each of the two most recent years ($300,000 with a spouse) and a reasonable expectation that such income will continue.

Changing the accreditation standards may or may not happen.

In the case of hedge funds, however, we may be in for more advertising, but perhaps not for hedge funds. More companies are launching retail-oriented products---so-called hedge fund mutual funds are a great example---and it seems logical to market such products more broadly.

For more:
- here's a New York Times article on crowdsourcing
- here's a New York Post article on advertising

Read more about: JOBS Act
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By Jim Kim

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4. Goldman Sachs dating advice

The end of the third quarter is at hand, and the conventional wisdom is that banks have taken a beating in terms of trading revenue. Citigroup has apparently not been able to buck the trend.

"With a week to go before the end of the quarter, the US's third-largest bank by assets appears ready to join several of the powerhouses of bond trading in reporting a slide in trading revenues after a sharper-than-expected summer slowdown in markets businesses," according to the Financial Times.

"Those familiar with Citi's discussions with its investors said the bank had highlighted a market-wide slowdown in activity. Some investors believe revenues will fall by significantly more than 10 per cent. Citi declined to comment. The bank's business is particularly weighted towards interest rates and foreign exchange, which are seen as weak across Wall Street. It also has the biggest exposure of any US bank to emerging markets that have seen capital flight and falling currencies in recent months."

On the one hand, it's tempting to wonder if these "discussions" were made public, as they perhaps ought to be per Reg FD. Selective disclosure is a no-no of course.

In any case, Citgroup is not alone in its fixed income misery. The slowdown has been palpable across the industry. While may were hoping that a burst of fixed income trading activity would follow from a Fed announcement on tapering, that wasn't to be. At the same time, some banks face some tough year-ago comps.

One big issue for diversified banks is whether the expected releases of previously set-aside reserves for mortgage losses will powerfully offset the bond weakness.

For more:
- here's the article

Read more about: Citigroup, Ficc
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By Jim Kim

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5. The most powerful women in banking and finance

The Goldman Sachs elevator guy, @GSELEVATOR, is nothing if not funny. Seriously funny. To prove it, I submit a hilarious piece of satire that he penned not too long ago about a young analyst's disastrous roadshow.

No one thinks, he's a real Goldman Sachs employee. If he was, he would have been rooted out by now. But he generates a lot of publicity for his Tweets about what he "hears" on Goldman Sachs' elevators.

He recently published "The Insider's Guide to Being a Man at Goldman Sachs," which led to even more media, not all of it favorable. Some think some of the advice was tinged with sexism, which he denies. But he did elaborate on his views of Goldman Sachs women and dating in a recent interview With New York magazine:

Here are some choice excerpts:

"I once tweeted a quote from a woman: 'I can always tell a banker within the first two minutes of meeting him in a bar ... because he tells me.' And sadly, I think that holds true to a great extent. Bankers can be particularly obnoxious, socially awkward, and obtuse to the existence and realities of a world outside of investment banking. With respect to Goldman Sachs, I can say specifically that it is a culture (more so than at other firms) whereby employees tend to define themselves as people by the fact that they work for Goldman Sachs. And, that's a bit sad."

And here's another:

"From my experience, men can be intimidated by women in banking, and can certainly feel emasculated by their work ethic, intelligence, ambition, and wallet size. Goldman women are very expensive to date. When you're an analyst working 100-hour weeks, free time is precious. Once you set the bar at Per Se gnocchi or $1,000-plus-a-night resorts, it's difficult to ever downgrade from there. Also for many women in banking, their benchmarks for a man are their friends and colleagues — well-educated, well-paid, overachievers. So they have high expectations."

So do you have what it takes to date a Goldman Sachs woman?

For more:
- here's the interview

Read more about: Goldman Sachs, workplace
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By Jim Kim

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