James Grippando - Money to Burn

“That’s a Bell Ringer!” he would shout.

Normally Bell’s show didn’t air until five P.M., but today’s big news was happening before breakfast. Bell wanted a piece of the story in real time.

“Go home, Chuck.”

Bell turned to find Rosario Reynolds standing two feet away from him. Rosario was the female half of FNN’s popular morning duo-the young, energetic, and gorgeous counterpart to the stodgy old Wall Street fat cat who, bloggers said, couldn’t keep his dirty-old-man eyes off her breasts.

“Rrrrrosario,” Bell said, trilling the R for added annoyance. “How’s my international superstar this morning?”

“Back off, Bell. If you think you’re going on the air this morning to scoop the Saxton Silvers news, dream on. Roger and I are live in ten minutes.”

“Rosario, Rosario,” he said with a condescending shake of the head. “Don’t you know that at FNN the Money Honey is always the last to know?”

“This Money Honey has a bigger set of balls than you do. So like I said: Back off. This story is mine.”

“You don’t have a story.”

“I broke it this morning. Another twenty-two billion in subprime write-downs.”

“That’s not the story,” he said, smiling thinly. “That’s the tip of the iceberg.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What do you know?”

He laughed way too hard, then snagged an assistant producer as she was trying to sneak past the two clashing stars in the hallway.

“Sandra,” said Bell, “how are we coming on the Palm Beach connection?”

Sandra checked her clip board. “Shooting for nine forty, maybe nine forty-five at the latest.”

“That’s during my show!” said Rosario

The assistant producer hurried away without a word. Rosario shoved Bell so hard that his shoulder blades bumped against the wall.

“What are you trying to pull?” she said sharply.

“I’m not trying to do anything. It’s done. FNN is bumping you for a special edition of Bell Ringer.”

“That’s not fair! I worked hard on this story.”

“Aww,” he said, patting her head. “Poor Money Honey.”

She knocked his hand away. “You’re such an asshole.”

“Thank you.”

“I am not going to let this happen,” she said.

“You don’t have a choice,” said Bell. “If these subprime write downs create the kind of liquidity problems that people are talking about, this could be the beginning of the end for one of the oldest investment banks on Wall Street. But all you’ve got are rumors. I’ve got a source.”

She gave him an assessing look. “You’re lying.”

“Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not.”

“I’ll have your ass if you bump my show and don’t have someone on the inside.”

He smiled thinly. “Under normal circumstances, I might be worried. But you’re overlooking one crucial fact, Rosario.”

“What?”

He leaned closer, as if to share a secret. “There really is no adult supervision at FNN.”

THE THUMB AND INDEX FINGER ON MY LEFT HAND WERE STARTING to blister. I didn’t think I needed a doctor, but it hurt enough to make me reconsider the sender’s agenda. Maybe the FBI was wrong. Maybe it wasn’t just a warning.

Maybe he did want to see me dead.

I was still in Eric’s office waiting for a chance to fill him in on my situation, and he was still on the phone talking through his headset. He suddenly stopped pacing long enough to grab the remote control from his desk and switch on the flat screen that was mounted on the wall above the wet bar. Like everyone else on Wall Street, Eric’s television was pre-set to FNN. The only thing worse than a business news network spreading rumors was being the only financial player in New York who hadn’t heard them. Chuck Bell was on the air, which caused me to do a double take. I’d been awake all night and my internal clock was off, but I was pretty sure it was just coming up on nine-thirty A.M., not Bell’s regular time slot.

“Good morning, all you mavericks and moneymakers,” he said, his usual greeting. “And welcome to the second half hour of this special edition of Bell Ringer.”

The familiar ding-ding-ding-ding of the NYSE opening and closing bell pulsated over the television, followed by a streaming banner at the bottom of the screen that proclaimed the reason for the special edition of Bell’s show:

LIQUIDITY PROBLEMS AT SAXTON SILVERS?

It was classic FNN: report something outrageous and potentially libelous to grab the viewers’ attention, and then put a question mark after it to keep from being sued.

Eric was red faced with anger. “Bell, you son of a bitch.”

Bell continued on the air. “Rumors, rumors, rumors. Such a vicious thing on Wall Street.”

“Then why do you start them?” Eric shouted at the screen.

Bell said, “We here at FNN are dedicated to bringing you only the facts. Unfortunately, the facts have investors, lenders, and players at every corner of the financial world nervous about one of the most prestigious institutions on Wall Street: the investment banking firm Saxton Silvers.”

Eric took a seat, glancing nervously back and forth from the television to the NYSE ticker that streamed across the wall behind his desk. As always, trading had started at nine-thirty A.M., and we were keeping an eye on the price of Saxton Silvers’ stock.

“Here is what we know as trading begins this morning,” said Bell.

“God help us,” said Eric.

“Fact: Saxton Silvers reported last fall that a write-down of one-point-six billion in subprime losses would stop the bleeding. Fact: FNN has confirmed that Saxton Silvers will announce another twenty-two billion in subprime losses later today.”

Bell paused, and Eric looked at me, as if to will Bell to stop right there. It was merely a pregnant pause, however, and Bell proceeded to do what he did best, throw gasoline on smoldering embers.

“The question becomes: Can Saxton Silvers take a hit of this magnitude to its capital reserves? Is this latest write-down of twenty-two billion dollars really the end of the downward spiral? Why should investors think so when management told us six months ago that one-point-six billion was the real number? Could Saxton Silvers face charges from regulatory authorities for misleading investors about the full extent of its worthless mortgage-backed securities? Rightly or wrongly, can multibillion-dollar class actions alleging fraud and mismanagement be far behind?”

Bell kept talking, but I was watching Eric, who truly looked to be on the verge of an aneurysm.

“Somebody needs to shut that lunatic up,” said Eric.

Bell said, “Joining me now from Palm Beach is Saxton Silvers chief executive officer Stuart Wyle. What better person is there to address these issues? Sir, thank you very much for joining us on Bell Ringer.”

“Uh, you’re very welcome.”

I couldn’t help but cringe. Bell had just laid out a case of financial Armageddon for Saxton Silvers, and pictured on television screens everywhere was our fearless leader speaking from the golf course at the Breakers Hotel, his nose shiny with sun-screen and a plaid golf cap atop his head. He must have looked ridiculous to anyone who wasn’t within three blocks of tony Worth Avenue.

“Mr. Wyle, let me begin by asking you this: Why are traders dumping their shares in Saxton Silvers?”

“No one’s dumping anything,” said Wyle.

“Sir, it is now nine forty-six A.M. Eastern time, and in just sixteen minutes of trading your stock has dropped from one hundred ninety per share to one hundred thirty.”

“Because of you!” Eric said to the screen.

Our CEO, fortunately, kept his cool. “The firm’s capital reserves are more than sufficient to cover the write downs that we will announce later today. The market will correct itself, and the price will come back just as soon as these silly rumors stop.”