Matthew Devlin, the ex-Lehman trader who was arrested yesterday for running a $4.8 million insider-trading scheme, made a lot of mistakes. He was not, it appears, the most discreet of criminals. He referred to his tipster, his wife Nina, a public-relations executive who unwittingly told him about M&A deals, as “the golden goose” in e-mails, which is about the most obvious nickname ever. (Did he also say “the Eagle has landed”? Probably.) Despite this appreciation for cliché, it seems Devlin didn’t know the one about how “Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead” — he told like twenty people about his suh-weet deal, and when he found out one of the people he traded with was on a “watch” list, he still kept working with him. He also apparently never saw Goodfellas, because he totally flaunted kickbacks (like a Cartier watch and a wide-screen TV) he got from people he gave tips to. All in all, not a very clever dude. But where he really screwed up is letting Maria Checa, a former Playboy playmate and the girlfriend of one of his friends, in on the action. As long as the tabloids have pictures of a LUSTY LATIN LADY (the Post) to run, this thing is never going to get settled quietly.
Two ex-Lehman Bros. brokers among four people hit in $4.8M insider ring [NYDN]
GOLDEN GOOSE’ & THE PINUP [NYP]
