Lets set the record a little straighter here... I posted the following couple of comments on the whole "coffintrader" episode on another forum and so I repeat it here.
Since someone has brought this subject up here on this forum the following "human interest" storyline is not really entirely off topic: (Apologies for cluttering - but it is a slow day and there does not seem to be much exciting things happening with MGW these days...
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Alas poor coffintrader... I knew him (not) well.
I did however get to meet him on an oil well drilling project out near Provost, Alberta back in 2009 I believe? He was working as a "humble" derrickman on the rig where I was playing at being the geologist. Any of you who know "rig work" know that that is not always "easy" work.
It seemed he grew up in that high octane and testosterone driven Vancouver atmosphere of investing and high (and very speculative) finance formerly referred to as the VSE. His extended family were all involved in the brokerage business as he tells it - and he was naturally exposed to all those Vancouver Mining promoters - and we know just how close many of those sailed to the wind. (Murray Pezim anyone?)
I remember being rather surprised by his rather c@cksure attitude and by how much coin he was supposedly able to flip for his tender years - as I remember having had a much longer career of hard work with less seemingly to show for my efforts...
He had seemed sincere enough though (even if somewhat oversure of himself) - but then too when you grow up in such an environment - you game the system slightly and if you have a little run of good luck (as we all do sometimes) - it would be easy to become quite proud of yourself... I did use to listen to some of his junior miner stories - after all what other game is there in Vancouver if you hang out with the Howe Street glitterati? But after losing enough money myself by gambling on mining stories - I was not very easily tempted to dig too deep...
I can after all lose enough money playing junior oil and gas stories - stories I sometimes fool myself into thinking I actually understand. I do however feel just a little bit sorry for him - sure he deserves to get his fingers slapped for this - but there really are a heck of a lot of much much bigger and more insidious fish to fry out there. Under it all he was just a little guy - much like many of us - and unfortunately he tried to get to be a "Big Time Operator" the wrong way... There are rules and a just and civil society depends on the majority voluntarily following the rules and doing the right things - the right way.
Too bad for him - but those of you out there who may be feeling a little smug - be careful about casting that first stone...
Just my ten cents worth on something a little off topic today.
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...and in a later post:
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A snippet from the ASC hearing:
Mr. De Gouveia was obviously bright, energetic and a quick learner.
I think they got that bit just about right!
In all this though I really wonder at what Magellan were thinking? Does anyone really believe that they were that ignorant of what they were doing? They needed some PR work done and in the words of Oscar Wilde: "If there's one thing worse than being talked about it's not being talked about!"
For the principals at Magellan - they could not hire the services of the "Organ Grinder" himself - so they simply hired the monkey... (Through the expedient of stock options: "We succeed - you succeed!")
Once again the people doing the "hiring" obviously knew the man's background and I doubt very much that they were interested in him (DG aka coffintrader) as much as they were interested in getting free access to those who stand in the shadows behind him. (Who also they would have been very much aware of at the time) The ambiguous grey world of Vancouver brokers and promoters who have been legendary in sailing close to the wind and who rarely get their wings clipped.
The man (who I only met the once) grew up in the thrall of a family full of "broker types!" As he grew up all he would have been exposed to were stories of junior mining entities and all the shenanigans of the Howe Street white collar gangsters (Businessmen). How could he not sound like he knew what he was doing? It was something learned by osmosis - the way a child learns to fish by going with his father and brother on a lifetime of fishing trips - or the way a daughter learns to cook by spending years in the kitchen with mother and/or grandmother learning the secrets of recipes and sauces?
I do not condone what happened with Magellan – (and perhaps others?) - as I posted before he crossed a line here perhaps? But really - poor old "coffintrader" is being hung out to dry as the proverbial sacrificial lamb - the regulators gleefully pounce on the "monkey" as an example to show the world that they are enforcing the rules - while in reality the actual "Organ Grinders" themselves are left completely free to continue their multibillion dollar boondoggles and shenanigans...
Just my ten cents worth again - and all of the above is entirely an "in my humble opinion" kind of fluff piece. But having met the man and chatted in person a short while swapping just a few stories of past successes and failures as well as future hopes and dreams I feel like someone has to put a human face on what is otherwise a "Just So" shadenfreude kind of tabloid storyline. I liked the guy - what more can I say? ...and of course no - I never bought any Magellan or anything else junior mining related - but knowing where his information came from and the grasp he would have had on the underlying brokerage grapevine as all kinds of tall tales get told - I would have been a bigger fool than I already know myself to be not to at least listened at least enough to find out what all the fuss might have been about...
But of course now that grapevine has been inexorably severed!
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GS