Jett and his Kidder colleagues, scandal-fatigued readers may recall, had constructed an elaborate trading strategy involving government bonds. What they did, though, was so arcane and divorced from reality that it seemed impossible–even for Jett’s bosses, who he says knew what he was doing–to determine if the trades created real profits or were an exercise in shuffling paper. This is what happens when the quest for profits becomes the tail that wags a kennel’s worth of dogs. It’s an old lesson, but Jett’s stories about what happened to him at Kidder’s offices, in the media and in the courtroom help make it a compelling, though disturbing, read.
Still, there are eye-glazing descriptions of Jett’s handiwork–forward settling trades, and pairing off trades to cancel each other out so they then cancel their part of the off-balance-sheet financing. Don’t feel bad if you don’t understand it. His bosses apparently didn’t get it, either.
