In a growing list of Over The Counter (OTC) derivatives trades gone bad, Libya’s sovereign investment fund sued Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) in London’s High Court last week, saying it lost more than $1 billion on now worthless derivatives while Goldman walked away with a profit of $350 million, according to a report in the New York Times. Unlike exchange traded derivatives, which are standardized and clearly describe the risk and contents of the derivative package in question, OTC derivatives, long unregulated and one reason for the 2008 global stock market crash, have been accused of being opaque and confusing…
Libya Sues Goldman Sachs Over Derivatives Trade Gone Bad
Mark Melin
Mark Melin is an alternative investment practitioner whose specialty is recognizing the impact of beta market environment on a technical trading strategy. A portfolio and industry consultant, wrote or edited three books including High Performance Managed Futures (Wiley 2010) and The Chicago Board of Trade’s Handbook of Futures and Options (McGraw-Hill 2008) and taught a course at Northwestern University's executive education program.