Wednesday 18 August 2010

Pablo Calderini is at Graham Capital Management

But how did he get there? Wandering (or flying) through astral desert in the night? Not even Ken Tropin knows for sure.

Pablo Calderini left Deutsche Bank last month. He was the head of equity proprietary trading. He left one pale morning without saying a word. There was a touch of mist in the air, which could have been ghosts. There were no tears from the Deutsche crowd, although as the days passed many at the bank wondered about him. People had dreams. They had visions. One of his old team saw him flying over a mountain range. 'Like an eagle'. That was the phrase he uttered, this bewildered trader. But no one knew for sure what had happened to him. Then, out of the blue, quite recently, he appeared at Graham Capital Management as chief investment officer. No questions were asked by his new colleagues. They were too scared to ask about the journey, but they have told me that they could see the emptiness of the desert in his eyes. Oh, they had an inkling. But they did not ask. Pablo is a dangerous man.

O my children, would you dare ask him any questions at all about the missing weeks? Would you ask him how he had travelled from Deutsche Bank to Graham Capital Management? Would you be that brave or that foolish? Actually, one man did interrogate him. The fearless founder of Graham. Yes, Ken Tropin asked a question or two. Now he walks with a limp.