Prince Alwaleed bin Talal buys Citi stock on Friday, Sunday Paulson agrees to bail them out.

[OregonBlue]

Monday the stock gains 50% on the day's trading.

CAN ANYONE SAY INSIDER TRADING?

No way in hell this good old buddy of George Bush didn't know on Friday that they were going to step in and rescue these guys. Why aren't any of the financial people questioning whether this was on the up and up? Lots of talk about the rescue, but nothing about this very questionable deal.

[acmavm]

1. This is where the line has to be drawn. WE, the taxpayers, should not,

must not be pawns to the rich.

What the fuck, PE Obama needs to step in front of the camera now and put a halt to this shit. He needs to pitch a fit for us, HIS CONSTITUENCY!

[BrklynLiberal]

8. Absolutely. There is no way this was a coincidence!!!

[Parche]

2. how much

stock did he buy?

[sabra]

7. raised his stake back to 5% on Friday

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/20/news/companies/citi_stake/?postversion=2008112021

<snip>

The move by Alwaleed, a long-time investor in the New York-based bank, follows the U.S. government's decision to inject some $25 billion. That left Alwaleed with about a 4% stake in Citigroup.

Alwaleed, in a press release from his holding company, expressed his faith in Citigroup management, including CEO Vikram Pandit. He added that he believed the company was doing what is necessary to weather the current economic crisis.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

15. This needs to be investigated by the Congress or whomever, it 's an obvious case of insider info.

This debacle is leading up to real shit storm if the public every wakes up to how this is being manipulated to benefit the wealthy investment class.

[JuniperLea]

3. As I recall... the Saudi's already own a huge chunk of Citi...

I remember this being discussed here on DU several years ago, and I started referring to them as SaudiBank instead of CitiBank.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Why yes they do ...

... I remember posting a link to it during the writers' strike (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/business/27citi.html)

[OregonBlue]

11. Yes they do. They bought additional stock on Friday. Does anyone believe that they

didn't know about the bailout that was coming? I don't. I do not believe that he would have increased his holdings if he did not know the "fix was in".

[JuniperLea]

18. There's no question in my mind...

In this country, that is called insider trading and it's against the law.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Please post a link! n/t

[OregonBlue]

17. Here are several:

Investment News

Friday
Citigroup Inc.’s stock price nose-dived 30% today in the steepest percentage decline ever for the Wall Street giant, which has lost more than a third of its market value in the past four days.

Despite the negative state of Citigroup, which is coming off four straight quarterly losses (InvestmentNews, Oct. 16), Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal expressed confidence in the bank today by announcing plans to increase his stake in the company from less than 4% to 5%.

http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID...

Monday
Barron’s
Citi's Sweet Deal from DC
By ANDREW BARY | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR
Citigroup, on the other hand, gets a deal covering $306 billion of troubled assets in return for issuing to the government $27 billion of preferred stock with a below-market interest rate of 8% and out-of-the-money stock warrants equal to less than 5% of Citi's outstanding shares struck at more than $10 a share.

Considering the AIG precedent, Citigroup shareholders came out very well, and it's therefore no surprise that Citi shares are up 1.93 to 5.70 Monday afternoon, a 51% gain from Friday's close.
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB122755706698253941....

Monday
Oil settles above $54 a barrel
CNN Money

Crude jumps as investors welcome the government's support of ailing financial firm Citigroup.
By Ben Rooney, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: November 24, 2008: 2:53 PM ET

The price of oil surged Monday as investors cheered the federal government's massive rescue package for banking giant Citigroup.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose $4.57 to settle at $54.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose more than $5 at one point to reach a session high of $55.30 a barrel.

The advance came after the U.S. government announced plans Sunday to inject another $20 billion into Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and guarantee losses on more than $300 billion in bank's troubled assets. (Full story)
Sunday's news lifted European markets and stocks in New York were up more than 3% in afternoon trading.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/24/markets/oil/index.htm

How much to you think Citi shares will go up in the next month? I for one am quite certain they will skyrocket on this sweet deal.

[ColbertWatcher]

20. Thank you! n/t

[MazeRat7]

5. Well as I understand it..

He only increased his stake in Citi to 5% (up from 3 or 4 % I believe) and was already heavily invested back from when stock was in the high 30's-40's.
Given those numbers, I'm guessing he is still in the red hundreds of millions and bought more at the latest rock-bottom price to help ease some of the losses.

That being said, the statement on Fri indicated he wanted to send a message that he had faith the Citi would recover.

That is from the "for what it's worth" department.

MZr7

[JuniperLea]

10. I don't think that's right...

He was the top individual owner as of January of this year. On edit, and further reading, his stake is closer to 10%.

[OregonBlue]

12. You are correct. However, do you actually believe he would have increased his stake if he didn't

know they were about to be bailed out? No way, especially given his close relationship with the Bushes. Call me skeptical.

[JuniperLea]

9. Ugh... read this by Greg Palast, from back in January 2008

http://www.gregpalast.com/george-of-arabia-better-kiss-your-abe-goodbye/

I may be ill...

[snot]

13. k&r -- source?

[OregonBlue]

16. Here are some links. BTW Oil prices soar on Citibank rescue news

Friday
Investment News

Citigroup Inc.’s stock price nose-dived 30% today in the steepest percentage decline ever for the Wall Street giant, which has lost more than a third of its market value in the past four days.

Despite the negative state of Citigroup, which is coming off four straight quarterly losses (InvestmentNews, Oct. 16), Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal expressed confidence in the bank today by announcing plans to increase his stake in the company from less than 4% to 5%.

http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081120/REG/811209995/0/Topic

Monday
Barron’s
Citi's Sweet Deal from DC
By ANDREW BARY | MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR
Citigroup, on the other hand, gets a deal covering $306 billion of troubled assets in return for issuing to the government $27 billion of preferred stock with a below-market interest rate of 8% and out-of-the-money stock warrants equal to less than 5% of Citi's outstanding shares struck at more than $10 a share.

Considering the AIG precedent, Citigroup shareholders came out very well, and it's therefore no surprise that Citi shares are up 1.93 to 5.70 Monday afternoon, a 51% gain from Friday's close.
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB122755706698253941.html?mod=googlenews_barrons

Monday
Oil settles above $54 a barrel
CNN Money

Crude jumps as investors welcome the government's support of ailing financial firm Citigroup.
By Ben Rooney, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: November 24, 2008: 2:53 PM ET

The price of oil surged Monday as investors cheered the federal government's massive rescue package for banking giant Citigroup.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose $4.57 to settle at $54.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose more than $5 at one point to reach a session high of $55.30 a barrel.

The advance came after the U.S. government announced plans Sunday to inject another $20 billion into Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and guarantee losses on more than $300 billion in bank's troubled assets. (Full story)
Sunday's news lifted European markets and stocks in New York were up more than 3% in afternoon trading.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/24/markets/oil/index.htm

How much to you think Citi shares will go up in the next month? I for one am quite certain they will skyrocket on this sweet deal.

[The Doctor.]

14. I don't know why, but that was a name I memorized back in '93...

"Al Waleed bin Talal bin Habut al Fadil"

I read in the paper that he was visiting the area. They printed his whole name, so I just repeated it to myself until I had it memorized. And for no apparent reason. :scratchhead:

[OregonBlue]

22. Put in "things I probably won't ever use" portion of the brain? LOL.

[lostnfound]

19. Unfortunately I'll be surprised if either party makes an issue of this.

I don't think the mainstream D's are likely to risk the wrath of the Saudis.
I hope that they will surprise me.

[smoogatz]

21. As Carlin said, "It's all a big club

and you ain't in it."

[OregonBlue]

23. You (he) nailed it.