so, how come is there no litigation against him yet? guy was making like $100k per month with the investment letter since mid 2011 and in 2012 he was mismanaging a small investment pool that basically blew up during the apple stock price downfall. so, it looks like this guy should be sent to jail while retrieving any cash he has stashed in the cayman islands so far... but from what i read, he is still writing his newsletter, as if nothing ever happened. gimme a freakin break. anyone?
Stupidity of this magnitude is rare (notional impact), so being destitute will certainly be punishment. Who's the bigger fool; the fool who leads or the fool who follows? You have a large, six-figure gain in AAPL shares (vast majority of your net worth), you're out of work, and you proceed to cover and take the cap gains hit and then invest in upside calls! Excelsior! Guy went broke and has a huge tax liability. Rare ignorance. I knew a high stakes poker player who was encumbered with the tax on a 1.2MM take home from online play. Lost it all in the new tax year before he paid for the prior year liability and then wondered why he couldn't offset 1:1.
Blodget is an epic dbag but all he got was a lifetime ban and a fine of $2MM. He was talking down the stocks in internal email and publicly lauding the same companies. This guy is not a wirehouse dude; he's sitting in his apartment writing a newsletter and buying call spreads in a private pool. The HF was registered. This wasn't fraud; he's simply inept.
Assuming he followed all licensing and disclosure requirements, there might not be grounds to investigate. There are far worse characters out there - Corzine, the Vampire Squid, et al - who made stupendously bad and costly decisions and/or facilitated them, and the most they've had to pay is in reputation (Corzine) or fines (the Squid).
People lose money handing the reins to another fly by night fast buck artist selling snake oil to the masses.
Why would he be in a bull call spread? Using calls as leverage and limiting the upside. This is a classic Dykstra strategy.