By now, it is common knowledge that the Fed's leak of material, market moving data to Medley Global's Regina Schleiger has become the reason for not only a Congressional subpoena which Janet Yellen has been resisting because, supposedly, the Fed is above the law and can decide which subpoenas to respond to (and will make sure anyone who dares to ask her any sensitive questions on the topic never speaks to her again as Pedro da Costa found out recently) but also a DoJ and OIG criminal investigation. So far there has been no actual charges as the Fed stonewalls and refuses to cooperate but even if it did, we doubt that anyone would dare to throw the central-planner of the formerly free world in prison.
But what about Medley? Why not subpoena and get sworn testimony from Regina or her employer to find out what happened from the other, less "protected" side? Actually that may have crossed the DOJ's mind.
First, a reminder of just who Medley Global is:
MGA is the leading global provider of macro policy intelligence for the world's top hedge funds, institutional investors, and asset managers. Our services and global network cover G20 plus Emerging Markets, Central Banks & Geopolitics, Global Oil and Energy Markets.
In short: an "expert network" (remember those? that's how Stevie Cohen made his billions paying insiders for material, nonpublic information right under the nose of regulators and enforcers) that leaks Fed decisions and thoughts to its top-paying clients, such as the report in question leaking the start of QE tapering in December 2012.
Some more on MGA's history:
Medley Global Advisors LLC (MGA) was founded in 1997 by Richard Medley, former chief political strategist to George Soros, to help investors navigate the opaque yet fascinating intersection of policy and markets. Dan Bogler, MGA's President, joined MGA in March of 2010.
From an initial concentration on G3 macro issues, MGA has over the years expanded its network and services to cover G20 countries, Emerging Markets, Geopolitics, Oil and Energy Markets.
Today, MGA has more than 45 experienced professionals with offices in New York, Washington DC, London, and Tokyo. Our client base and policy network spans the globe. MGA's professionals average more than 15 years of experience in the financial markets and the policy world.
Richard Medley left the firm in 2005 when private equity firms Boston Ventures and Castanea Partners purchased the company. In 2006, Goldman Sachs also took a minority share in the firm.
And the punchline:
In February 2010, MGA was purchased by the Financial Times, one of the world's leading business news organisations.
We bring all of this up of course because smack in the middle of the biggest criminal scandal involving the Fed in its history, but also an FT-owned expert network (an FT which until today was owned by Pearson), the expert network known as Medley Global Advisors just changed its owners, from the FT/Pearson to Japan's Nikkei, in a transaction advised by Rothschild for the buyer and Goldman, Evercore and JPM for the seller. From the press release:
Pearson is today announcing that it has agreed the sale of FT Group to Nikkei Inc. for a gross consideration of £844 million, payable in cash.
Financial Times is one of the world’s leading news organisations, recognised for its authority, integrity and accuracy. It includes the FT newspaper, FT.com, How to Spend It, FT Labs, FTChinese, the Confidentials and Financial Publishing (including The Banker, Investors Chronicle, MandateWire, Money-Media, Medley Global Advisors and more).
And in light of the fact that the FT had been on the M&A block since 2012 only to see today's dramatic and uite rapid sale concluded in what appears to have been a sprint session, one can't help but wonder: did Medley's association with the FT and thus with Pearson, catalyze today's deal.
Alternatively, now that Medley has new, Japanese owners, does that mean that someone at the DOJ or FBI will, since the Fed is still refusing to cooperate, finally ask a few questions of an expert network whose very existence screams of inside information leakage and a two-tiered market in which the rich have access to all the inside information they can buy while the poor are trolled by Ms. Yellen who advises them of the importance to "build assets."
