London, a Small World
Most of the few dozen SIVs, typically registered in offshore havens such as the Cayman Islands, are managed out of London. Most players attribute the city's dominance to the fact that SIVs are extremely complex, often taking as much as a year to set up, so it is difficult for new players to enter. Because the business started in London, most people with the necessary skills and experience are in the United Kingdom, says Geoff Fuller, an attorney with Allen & Overy LLP in London, who has advised Citigroup and other clients on SIVs and other structured-finance products. "It's a small world where people know who their competitors are," says Mr. Fuller.

Ian McDonald and Craig Karmin contributed to this article.Write to Carrick Mollenkamp at carrick.mollenkamp@wsj.com4, Deborah Solomon at deborah.solomon@wsj.com5, Robin Sidel at robin.sidel@wsj.com6 and Valerie Bauerlein at valerie.bauerlein@wsj.com7

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119266856453862839

FIRST :ALL EXCEC'S GIVE EVERY PENNY THEY HAVE,EVEN THE HIDDEN MONEY.SECOND:NO JAIL BUT LET THEM CLEAN THE STREETS OF "NEW YORK" CITYAND THEM DO NOT FEED THEM. TAKE THEIR EVERY THING FROM THEM AND PUT THEM BACK IN GRADE SCHOOL ...THIS WOULD BE THE BEGINNING OF MY TORTURE FOR THE SCAM-ARTIST,S....STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO: THE WALL OF STREET SHAME PROVIDED BY OUR GOVERNMENT IS SECONT TO NONE......

Get your money out of America while you still can...before the Commies take over on Jan.20,2009....unless you don't care if you lose all your savings.

To HELL w/Citi/Chase/BOA/etc.
These assholes have been stealing the average citizen blind for years. Offering low/no interst rates on credit cards so they can jack them and us up later w/ bogus fee's, late charges, and skyrocketing interest rates. Those SOB's can rot as far as I am concerned.
Where is MY BAIL OUT from these A-holes. "SEND ME THE MONEY"
KATHLEEN PILZ

I can understand the sheer greed and even criminality of the investment banks and global banks , ie. Citi, but where have the regulators been ?

If i understand it correctly, hedge funds are "special" and not subjct to all the regs of say, mutual funds, then there are special investment vehuicles with their own set of rules and these can remain off balance sheet, and now there are even some special EFT's where you can short two dollars for every one dollar you actually invest, and my favorite the default swaps where you do not even need to own the asset/investment you are betting against. Just think of it, that's like buying an insurance policy on perfect strangers and making yourself the beneficiary. Just go to your local hospital's ICU and write down the names
It's a wonder the markets didn't blow up sooner !!
How could our government allow such obvious manipulation of the markets to happen, we are all totally f**ked !!!!

The reason why the current Republican Administration wants to bail out the banks and "stiff GM" is because the neo-conservative FASCISTS want to break the back of the unions. Duuuuhhhh...

How can this affect a citi credit card holder?

We as taxpayers should not give one penny to Citigroup! They are even now as they beg for money ripping off the very same taxpayers that they want money from by lowering the max amounts on their creditcards, which means they can increase the interest rate on the cards and charge over the limit fees. WATCH YOUR CREDITCARD STATEMENTS OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS!! I say we put the criminals in jail instead of giving them more money!

Pouring more money into Citi is like "beating a dead horse" . . . it isn't EVER going to get up and gallop again. This bailout of Citi is merely a ruse to "save", as much as possible, the investments that have been DEFRAUDED by the While Collar Crimes of pyramid and Ponzi schemes . . . the CEO, the CFO, and upper managment should be indicted and prosecuted for crimes; and the corporation should either go into Chapter 11, or more aptly Chapter 7 dissolution. These problems should be resolved by the "natural" effects of the Free Market Economy.

This ENTIRE DEBACLE is the FAULT of Congress' BLATANT FAILURE to provide reasonable and basic regulation of the FIs and the corporations . . . and their failure to require that all mortgage applicants be FULLY PREQUALIFIED FOR THE MORTGAGES THAT THEY APPLIED FOR. This is the basis for the subsequent pyramid and Ponzi schemes using the bad mortgages to exponentially escalate the values of the bad mortgages; and to fraudulently finance the phony construction boom. Congress is the priniciple party responsible for this entire debacle.

Not fair - Let Citi die by there stupid investments- No one helped us hard working Amerians-work daily at hard tasks

I moved all my Accounts to Bank of America- safe place to rest down- Amed

What seems to be vague in this financial debacle is not what the goverment is doing, is who the goverment is protecting.?