Exhibit A On money is the delusion we tell ourselves everyday.
Last August, Citigroup Inc. wired $900 million to some hedge funds by accident. Then it sent a note to the hedge funds saying, oops, sorry about that, please send us the money back. Some did. Others preferred to keep the money. Citi sued them. Yesterday Citi lost, and they got to keep the money. I read the opinion, by U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman, expecting to learn about the New York legal doctrine of finders keepers—more technically, the “discharge-for-value defense”—and I was not disappointed. But I was also treated to a gothic horror story about software design. I had nightmares all night about checking the wrong boxes on the computer. Give back what? The magic numbers? Make your own up Citibank. This is one of the reasons traders and banks are filled with inveterate gamblers with no conception of reality other than fanciful games they play to amass points and amuse each other