Greed is LIV Golf

Golf is not a sport I associate with violence, much less murder.  Yes, people have beaten people to death with a golf club but that was just a handy blunt instrument for someone deranged.

Contrast that with a Saudi Crown Prince that orders the death of a U.S. journalist by enticing the victim to visit a Turkish Saudi consulate, then carving him up.  That same Crown Prince heads up the country's Public Investment Fund which started LIV, a rival professional golf tour to the PGA.  

The Shark aka Greg Norman manages LIV.  Major professional golfers agreed to play in the new tour, able to set aside ethical concerns for money.  I would add prestige but fail to see how associating with a venture headed by a murderer offers anything but shame and embarrassment.  

The latest spokesperson for LIV is former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. 

As president of his own firm, Ari Fleischer Communications, he works extensively in the corporate and sports worlds to advise on communications, image, and crisis management strategies and issues. Fleischer has provided counsel to clients such as Major League Baseball, the College Football Playoff, the Women’s Tennis Association, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association and has conducted media training for teams in the NFL, MLB and NBA, as well as numerous race car drivers. 

I'm not sure how many of Ari's clients want to be associated with an apologist for a murderous Saudi Prince.

Ari is a water carrier for the greed and leverage boys.

a panel on the outlook on healthcare private equity in 2019, moderated by Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary, and Ezra Klein, CEO of Vox Media 

Private equity underwriters (PEU) brought surprise medical billing to healthcare and add billions in costs to America's grossly overpriced healthcare non-system.  Red Team members of Congress are blocking SEC efforts to require PEUs share annual audits and quarterly financial reports with public pension funds.  Golf is the latest arena for PEU level disruption.

LIV Manager Greg Norman has been called "the despicable epitome of unabashed greed."  That puts him in league with the PEU boys.  Jared Kushner got $2 billion in Saudi money for his new PEU Affinity Partners. They've no problem setting aside ethical concerns for money.  

Who advocates for the people hurt or killed by leaders who can't get enough power, money or personal adulation?  I can't see them for the darkness.

Update:  Trump golf courses will host two LIV events.  The last LIV stop will be Team Championship, a team-match play format at the legendary Blue Monster of Trump National Doral in Miami. Prize money is $50 million with the winning team splitting $16 million, and the last-place team receiving $1 million.  Did Jared help negotiate the use of Trump Bedminster and Trump Doral?

With a murderer and insurrectionist things could get very loud.  Unfortunately the globe has seen national leaders of their ilk before.

Update 6-8-22:  LIV Golf will not be televised in the U.S.  It may take a Trump television network for that to happen.  As guns are not allowed at Trump rallies or on Trump properties, free speech will be restricted at LIV Golf events.  The Saudis take no lip.  More PGA pros are joining the Despot League.

No word if Kushner's Affinity Partners is an investor in LIV Golf Investments.  LGI has a laughable mission.

Update 6-9-22:  The holistic golfing boys got banned by the PGA for playing on the LIV tour, now and in the future.  LIV called the PGA vindictive.  I think that title is reserved for the Crown Prince.

Update 6-19-22:  Golf continues to be a force for greed.

Update 6-29-22:  LIV Golf will be in Portland, Oregon this week.  Portland is the site of the death of a teenager at the hands of a Saudi national who fled the country after his arrest.  Federal investigators believe the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia got the killer out on a private plane using a new passport, likely under a different name. No justice even when the killings occur inside the U.S.  As Phil Michelson said, "Scary motherfuc_ers." 

Update 7-4-22:  LIV Golf heads to Trump Bedminster where the ex-President is in summer residence.  Should be a jolly reunion of truly scary motherfu_kers."  Ari Fleischer will keep the big dogs verbally on track for public appearances.  Golf but greedier.

Update 7-7-22:  Golf legend Fred Couples said of the LIV Tour:

“I don’t like anything about it to be honest with you,  I’ve heard some people say: ‘Well you know golf is an open sport and if they can get more…’ Well this is different. They’re kind of pummeling the Tour to give the best to the Saudi Arabians. We don’t know how long this tour is going to last. My easy answer is, as a golf professional who has played the tour for 42 years, I’m kind of embarrassed.”

The arrogant Saudi Crown Prince incarcerated family members for months to wring cash from them.  These golfers have a deal with a devil who can turn on them at any moment.

Update 7-13-22:  LIV golf is entirely driven by money.

Update 8-3-22:  One story got the mean greed vibe but did not explore the possible role of Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners in LIV Golf.  Is Jared coaching Affinity Partners' affiliate LIV Golf alongside former Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer? The Trump team's disregard for the law can be seen in its Mafia-like behavior according to a former FBI official.

Update 8-16-22:  A Saudi woman studying at Leeds University was sentenced to 34 years in prison for using Twitter to follow and retweet activists and dissidents.  The World Economic Forum ran a piece on using AI to reign in abuse on the internet:

By bringing human-curated, multi-language, off-platform intelligence into learning sets, AI will then be able to detect nuanced, novel online abuses at scale, before they reach mainstream platforms.

I imagine the Crown Prince would be most interested in such technology. 

Update 9-14-22:  Trump's Sterling, Virginia golf course will host LIV Golf in May 2023.  It will be the third LIV event at a Trump owned course.

Update 9-22-22:  LIV spokesperson Jonathan Grella said: “Greg Norman had a very productive day on Capitol Hill today in front of some 60 members of Congress. His message about the benefits of competition was very well received, even if a couple members of Congress say otherwise.”  A Texas Congressman (Red Team) wrote:

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is funneling money through its Public Investment Fund (PIF) to stand up LIV Golf as an exercise in public relations. In other words, a foreign government’s dollars are being used to enhance that government’s brand and positioning here in the United States."

Update 10-28-22:   LIV Greed lands at Trump Doral for a final tournament.  The money behind LIV is headed by a 37 year old Saudi Crown Prince who wants to humiliate President Biden, like he did while extorting family members in the Riyadh Ritz Carlton.

Update 11-12-22:  Former Blue Teamer Peter Orszag and Lazard are behind the Crown Prince's resurgence on the world stage as his financial advisor.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is working with Lazard on funding options and a potential initial public offering of Masar, a $27 billion mega project in the holy city of Mecca.

Greed is as greed does.

Lazard Geopolitical Advisory will combine some of the world’s most experienced geopolitical minds with Lazard’s unmatched business expertise.

It's an unholy alliance.

Update 12-6-22:   The U.S. court case against the Crown Prince was dismissed under the guise of sovereign immunity, something the Prince did not have at the time of the execution.  The judge said his hands were tied by the Biden administration's recommendation to the court.  Thugs win. 

Update 2-9-23:  Saudi sportswashing continues with a possible sponsorship at the Women's World Cup.  U.S. forward Alex Morgan said:

“I think it’s bizarre that Fifa has looked to have a ‘Visit Saudi’ sponsorship for the Women’s World Cup when I would not even be supported and accepted in that country, so I just don’t understand it,” Morgan said. “Pretty much everyone has spoken out against that because morally, it just doesn’t make sense.

Update 3-20-23:   LIV Golf switched television production companies such that workers have no healthcare coverage or other benefits.  TV ratings for its most recent tournament were in the toilet.

Update 4-9-25:  Saudi sponsored golf was not a hit, even at a Trump course with Trump in attendance:

The numbers are in for LIV Golf's major broadcast TV debut and they aren't good. Sunday's final round, aired on Fox and featuring some of LIV's biggest names in the hunt — Sergio Garcia, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson — garnered an audience of just 484,000 viewers.

Will Trump's poorly thought out tariffs kill LIV Golf?

Update 4-15-26:  Saudi PIF may drop LIV Golf.  Surely, they are tired of subsidizing the product and there may be a message for Trump II after his disastrous war of choice on Iran.  LIV used Trump golf courses for a number of its U.S. events.  An LIV event is scheduled for Trump National from May 7-10, 2026.  

PEUs Don't Want to Disclose Most Basic Information

WSJ reported the SEC may ask private equity underwriters (PEU) to provide more information to public pension funds.  The article stated:

Pension plans and other institutional investors are embracing a federal proposal that would force hedge funds and private-equity funds to provide more disclosures to investors.

University endowments, insurance funds and retirement funds serving teachers andfirefighters are urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to move forward with a proposed rule that would ensure private fund investors receive annual audits and quarterly financial statements.

I don't know why pension funds haven't made that a requirement for investing worker money in private equity offerings.  They should have control over the terms of investing their funds.  Did CalPERS part ownership of The Carlyle Group prevent that from happening in the early days?

The PEU boys and Red Team politicians have criticized the effort.  Surely they generate quarterly financial statements and conduct annual audits.  Why don't they want to share?  

Recall this is the investment class that politicians want to make available for individual retirement accounts (IRAs and 401k accounts). 

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one. 

Update 10-27-22:  Guest on CNBC talked about PEUs not marking down holdings over a period when the public market was down 18%.

PEU Advisor Haspel Supervised Torture

Former Trump CIA Chief Gina Haspel observed waterboarding during her time with the agency.  NYT reported:

James E. Mitchell, a psychologist who helped develop the agency’s interrogation program, testified that the chief of base at the time, whom he referred to as Z9A in accordance with court rules, watched while he and a teammate subjected al-Nashiri to “enhanced interrogation” that included waterboarding at the black site.

Z9A is the code name used in court for Haspel.

Waterboarding has been a crime for over seventy years.

In 1947, the U.S. charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for waterboarding a U.S. civilian. Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

Haspel currently works for D.C. law firm King and Spalding.  Their website states:

In particular, Haspel helps the firm’s corporate, private equity, family office and other global clients to assess and manage institutional risks.

The law firm had this to say about Gina's hiring.

“Gina joins a team who have held leadership positions in the nation’s intelligence, enforcement and regulatory agencies and who counsel clients on globally significant matters.” 

“King & Spalding has powerful capabilities to help clients to identify opportunities, manage risk, and gain advantage in the highly-competitive global business environment,” Haspel said in the statement, provided by the firm. 

The greed and leverage boys need advice on how to turn sketchy financial acts into something not worth investigating.  Gina Haspel has that knowledge and experience.

Bilderberg Meets in D.C.

ZeroHedge reported:

The 68th Bilderberg Meeting is already underway in Washington, D.C., which began on Thursday and will continue through Sunday. 

What’s tougher to justify, within a democratic framework, is the practical process whereby conflicts are being debated, behind closed doors, by top policymakers in concert with billionaire industrialists and private sector profiteers. 

As for the private equity underwriters (PEU) in attendance, they include:

Kravis, Henry R. (USA), Co-Chairman, KKR & Co. Inc.

Petraeus, David H. (USA), Chairman, KKR Global Institute

Thiel, Peter (USA), President, Thiel Capital LLC

Koç, Ömer (TUR), Chairman, Koç Holding AS which partnered with The Carlyle Group on several deals.

Mellody Hobson of Ariel Investments is a new PEU with the launch of Ariel Alternatives.  She is listed as co-founder of Ariel Alternatives.

Karp, Alex (USA), CEO, Palantir Technologies Inc. is once again present to protect the Bilderbergers from outside influence.  His firm has PEU roots with Peter Thiel's Founders Fund..

Sinema, Kyrsten (USA), Senator is there to ensure she never lives in a car again.  The rest of us are on our own.

As they are meeting in D.C. there are opportunities for people not on the official participant list to drop by.  Red and Blue Presidential candidates have dropped by to show their mettle.  

None of this will be reported by The Atlantic, The Economist or FT.  WaPo usually sends someone so it's odd they aren't going when the meeting is in their backyard.

These people are not working on behalf of average citizens.  Their game board is personal power, enrichment and life extension.  Rest assured they are scheming very hard on how to come out on top. 

Update 6-8-22:  Bilderberger Mellody Hobson will become part owner of the Denver Broncos. 

Update 1-24-23:  Sinema is fresh from attending the World Inequality Forum in Davos and rubbing elbows with the billion class.  It turns out the PEU boys were very generous with the Independent Senator after she saved their preferred taxation.  

Senator Krysten Sinema received at least $526,000 from donors in the private equity, hedge fund, and venture capital industries after killing a bill closing tax loopholes for private equity.

It sounds like the bidding has already started for her future services. 

Update 5-18-23:  The Bilderberg Group is meeting in Lisbon, Portugal and the published attendee list is similar to past lists.  KKR's Henry Kravis, Citadel's Ken Griffin, Palantir's Alex Karp, Founder's Fund/Thiel Capital/Mithral Capital's Peter Thiel are among the global plotters.  It's not clear if Brian Deese is back at BlackRock after ending his stint in the Biden White House in March.  Stacey Abrams is attending, I imagine to chronicle all the attendees who worked their way up the global economic chain by their bootstraps.

Update 5-11-25:  The Asia Times is calling Alex Karp "the most dangerous man in America."  Ken Griffin sounded the alarm on tariffs, saying they are ushering in an era of crony capitalism.  Both warnings are at least ten years too late.

Update 1-11-26:  Former Senator Kyrsten Sinema  co-founded the AI Infrastructure Coalition, which pushes AI data center development.

Carlyle Mostly Exits JFK's Terminal One

QNS reported:

The Port Authority of NY&NJ today voted and approved the Ferrovial Airport Corporation assumption of shares from Carlyle Group in the redevelopment of Terminal One (New Terminal One-NTO) at JFK Airport as the control lead investor of the project -a $9.5 billion project and largest single component of redevelopment.

Airport Technology reported in February:

Carlyle holds a 51% stake in NTO and if an agreement is signed between the two parties, Ferrovial Airports would acquire 96% of the said stake.

This is the second large infrastructure project Carlyle exited.  Carlyle dropped its lead developer role for the Port of Corpus Christi's Harbor Island project.  Carlyle went from a 51% stake down to 2% for NTO at JFK.  Ferrovial is a Spanish firm with global spread. It manages several British airports.  Carlyle knows how to keep airport deals with foreign companies out of the news.

The greed and leverage boys know when it's time to raise cash.  

Global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) today announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations to a sell a controlling stake in Euro Techno Com Group (“ETC” or the “Company”), a leading a “one-stop shop” value-added distributor for the telecom network and technology infrastructure industry, to Cinven.

Cinven is a European private equity underwriter (PEU).  Can the two PEUs reach a deal before economic conditions erode further?  

Carlyle cashes in as the world enters recession watch.

Update 2-29-24:  Carlyle remains involved in financing the project and affiliate AlphaStruxure will design, build and operate the microgrid for Terminal One.

PEU Tepper Drops Rock Hill's Practice Facility for Carolina Panthers

David Tepper, the richest team owner in the NFL, had one of his real estate companies declare bankruptcy for a planned Carolina Panthers practice facility in Rock Hill, South Carolina.  

DT Sports Holding LLC will provide $20 million in interim financing to GT Real Estate Holdings, LLC as the company winds its way through bankruptcy.  DT Sports Holding LLC was formerly known as DT Panthers Holding LLC.  

Last year David Tepper co-founded Andalusian Private Capital to invest in sports related entities.  That would be a heck of a note if Tepper's real estate company sold the distressed practice facility asset to Andalusian, Tepper's private equity underwriter (PEU).  Andalusion has nearly $1 billion in assets under management.  

Milking government wallets is a longstanding NFL and PEU play.  Will Tepper do his best to stiff Rock Hill taxpayers in any distressed asset sale?  Likely, he has the deep pockets and corporate control to do it.   

Update 6-3-22:  WBTV3 reported "taxpayer investments already made are at risk. More than $80 million of state and federal tax dollars was committed to the new I-77 exit 81 project currently under construction.  York County taxpayer money is also on the line. Bankruptcy records show York County is owed $21 million of taxpayer money for funds from the Pennies for Projects revenue stream that were committed to construction on Mount Gallant Rd."

“There were never going to realistically be concerts played here. There were never going to be big events here,” Dr. Victor Matheson told WBTV.

Matheson studies the economic impact of publicly funded sports projects and has been questioning the public investments from the start.

“Almost certainly that always leads to tears, and this is exactly what we’ve got here,” Matheson said.

Update 12-31-23:  David Tepper threw a drink on a Jaguars football fan.  The NFL is aware of the video.  Tepper is "completely untouchable as a person of his financial and social stature."

A story went on to say, "When you’re this wealthy in America, this is, sadly, one of the perks afforded to you."  The PEU boys have been pissing on little people for decades.

Parts of PEU Market Like Ponzi Scheme

Bloomberg reported:

“We are in a big bubble in the private markets,” Mortier said. “If I take an extreme analogy, for some parts, the private equity market may look like a Ponzi scheme, a pyramid, in a way.”  Last year saw buyout firms invest a record $1.1 trillion in new deals.

“When you know you are able to exit your stake to another private equity house for a multiple of, let’s say, 20, 25 or 30 times earnings, of course you won’t mark down your book,” Mortier said. “That’s why I’m talking about a Ponzi because it’s a circular thing.”

That ability to sell to peers has enabled firms to avoid marking down the value of the assets they own despite a broader selloff in public markets. 

Selling to peers also avoids public disclosures on deal fees, annual management fees, special dividends and dividend recaps.  Many PEUs milk enough funds from affiliates within a few years to cover their initial equity investment.  In those cases little is lost if the affiliate enters bankruptcy other than dreams for gargantuan profits.

The Federal Reserve Bank has been successful in reflating assets after the 2008 financial crisis and exponentially growing income inequality.  Will former PEU Fed Chief Jay Powell give his PEU peers another chance to buy companies at a discount or take them over via debt holdings in bankruptcy?  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proven its inability to find ponzi schemes when directed by knowledgeable individuals.  It has also remained hands off on private equity, in part because politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.