Joy on Wall Street!

Wall Street continues to be rocked by the sub-prime crisis but there is some joy from an unexpected source. Mark Spitzer, Governor of New York and former attorney general of the state, is in trouble over his alleged involvement in a high class prostitution ring. Spitzer has tendered an apology of sorts and is under pressure to quite after federal wire-taps are said to have implicated him as a client of the prostitution ring.

Spitzer went after Wall Street firms in a big way and was responsible for the multi-billion dollar settlement with top firms after the Internet bubble collapse in 2002. Spitzer also prosecuted those involved in two prostitiution rings at the time. Seeing this crusader of yesteryear the receiving end has given some delight to investment bankers who took some pounding from him.

Legions of Wall Street’s bankers, traders and investors relished the dark clouds enveloping New York governor Eliot Spitzer, who on Monday informed his most senior administration officials that he had been tied to a prostitution ring, the New York Times reported.

.....“The guy is a quintessential hypocrite,” said Jeffrey Gundlach, chief investment officer of TCW Group in Los Angeles, which invests $160 billion. News of Spitzer’s political fall from grace, however, did little to lift the mood on Wall Street. “I would think the markets would rally off this news as it brings some relief to Spitzer’s dealing with Wall Street and traders,” said Gundlach of TCW

Incidentally, bashing Wall Street has been one sure route to high office in the US. Spitzer is not the only one to have made it big. He was only following in the footsteps of former New York Rudolph Guiliani who made a name for himself in an insider trading scandal when he was New York attorney general.