Mr Compliance

Time for another edition of #ComplianceBookClub.

I always recommend Tom Wright and Bradley Hope’s “Billion Dollar Whale” to new compliance officers.

It’s a gripping true story, and there is quite a lot of detail on how the bad guys disguised transactions in order to fool bank compliance teams.

On the issue of tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions, there is also Nicholas Shaxton’s excellent “Treasure Islands”. #ComplianceBookClub

I have always believed that Compliance Officers need to read widely to stimulate our thinking about where there might be vulnerabilities, help explain risks to the business and help with real-life stories for training.

So I’ve started a virtual #ComplianceBookClub here, and on LinkedIn.

Just got around to reading @oliverbullough.bsky.social’s Butler to the World.

Excellent read. Pitched at a UK audience, but a readable and relevant on the topic of tax havens broadly, and his critique of STR/SAR regimes has a ring of truth across jurisdictions.

Name change reminder: my forthcoming “Philosophical Fragments” is now going to be called “Karoline von Günderrode: Philosophical Writings.” Translations of #Günderrode's most philosophical works with accessible introductions. Out soon and already available to preorder! global.oup.com/academic/pro...

My brilliant partner’s next volume of translations and introductory essays is available for pre-order! So proud of her efforts to expand the philosophical cannon to include neglected female philosophers like Karoline von Gunderrode.

Last week, $4,000 gold was big news.

This week, $4,000 gold would be a correction.

🤔

Saw this ad on LinkedIn and it made me smile. Good at spotting compliance issues in a sea of words, apparently.

Typos? Not so much.

Reading the first item on Thinking Machines, I am reminded of the South Sea bubble, in which the company issued shares for “carrying out an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is.”

Don’t know what made me make that connection. Funny how the brain works sometimes. 😉

Cover for the book "Karoline von Günderrode: Philosophical Writings" edited and translated by Anna Ezekiel for the Oxford New Histories of Philosophy series. A black cover with text in gold and white, and a black and white portrait of a young woman's upper torso, looking to the right.

The copy edits have started coming in for this! Online publication is scheduled for January-March 2026

Karoline von Günderrode’s “Timur” and the Influence of Ossian This post explores a strong stylistic and thematic influence on Günderrode’s work: the writings of legendary Scottish bard Ossian. For an English translation of Günderrode’s dramatic fragment “Mora…

A new blog post came out yesterday! On Karoline von Günderrode and Ossian, with a translation of Günderrode's Ossian-inspired short story "Timur": acezekiel.com/2025/09/22/k...

Hope and the Kantian Legacy Hope is understood to be a significant part of human experience, including for motivating behaviour, promoting happiness, and justifying a conception of the sel…

I co-edited this anthology on Kant's conception of hope and its influence on late 18th and 19th century philosophy: www.bloomsbury.com/us/hope-and-...

I’m getting pretty excited about my next book coming out in November 🕺🏼🕺🏼🕺🏼(“Philosophical Fragments”: more translations of #Günderrode with useful little intros). Today the last little copyright thing got sorted out, and we’ve picked an image for the cover!

I can solemnly attest that they really, really do taste like exactly like chocolate truffles.

I travel a lot with work, and sometimes people ask me if I find that difficult.

Yes, sometimes it is.

Then again, sometimes I coincidentally end up in Tokyo just when the cherry blossoms are happening.

How Banks Turned Into Giant Synthetic Hedge Funds Podcast Episode · Odd Lots · 2025-02-21 · 38m

Catching up on my Odd Lots podcast backlog. This one is interesting. The guest persuasively argues that SBV was operating more like a hedge fund (taking risk against a particular view of markets) than a bank (managing risk) when making derivatives bets.

podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/o...

Bloomberg headline today:
Wall Street Gamblers Get Crushed as Leveraged ETF Losses Hit 40%

I don’t know about you, but bail am personally shocked. SHOCKED. That leveraged single stock ETFs are not working out. 😑

Happy anniversary right back at you @annaezekiel.bsky.social ❤️

Here’s a Chat GTP attempt at a Compliance-themed holiday greeting ecard.

Have a great holiday everyone out there.

For anyone out there that is interested in continental philosophy, history of philosophy, and women in philosophy, check out my amazing wife and her awesome Bluesky feed and blog.

It’s behind a paywall, but Bloomberg’s @matt-levine.bsky.social has an awesome take on the Adani prosecution as essentially a greenwashing prosecution.

news.bloomberglaw.com/mergers-and-...

This should be interesting to watch, both the prosecution itself, and the impact it has on US-India relations.

According to @bloomberg.com, Adani Group’s market value fell US$30B on the news, and the group cancelled a bond issuance.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

#FCPA #Compliance

So I guess I’ll just sit here and post food pics until I find someone who wants to talk #regulation or #compliance

Dinner in Shanghai, at Din Tai Fung #foodsky

Spicy lunch in Shanghai!

PPE required to protect the work shirt….

#Foodsky

Wish I’d seen that when I joined a couple of days ago 😂😂

Me please!

Folks who have been coming to Shanghai longer than I have always mutter that Pudong is boring, it was farmland 30 years ago, blah blah blah.

Don’t care. It always gives me a thrill.

Terrific thread on the Mainland Chinese stock market and domestic stock investors.

Hello Shanghai!

@oranmagal.bsky.social