Blogger Mike Morgan started a blog just a few week ago titled “Info, Comments, Opinions and Facts about Goldman Sachs” at GoldmanSachs666.com.
In that time Morgan, a registered investment adviser, has written a number of posts related to Goldman Sachs, other banks and the banking industry as a whole.
On April 8th, the bank instructed Chadbourne & Park to contact Morgan with a cease and desist order (viewable here), making clear that legal action would be taken if he didn’t shut down the site immediately – the same old stuff really.
Not without a fight
Investment banker Morgan has made clear he isn’t disappearing any time soon. He points out that the site meets all legal requirements and clearly states on the header of the homepage that he isn’t affiliated with Goldman Sachs at any level.
He makes clear, again on the homepage:
“Yes, I am short Goldman Sachs stock. I believe this company is evil and should not exist. We need to begin to break up companies that have as much control over world finances as Goldman Sachs.”
(Hence, the 666 in the blog’s domain name.)
A friend of mine worked at Merrill Lynch and set up a similar blog titled lynchmerrill.com. :-)
He hadn’t even launched it when their lawyer came knocking. He never launched after all but did use it to negotiate a better deal when he eventually left the company…
Interesting. I wonder how many other people have been threatened with civil legal action over their internet activities.
Mike Morgan is not an investment banker – as you have mentioned above – he is an investment advisor. The difference is quite significant – much as is the difference between a Ferrari and a pinto is significant.