Paul Mozer

Paul William Mozer (born April 23, 1955) is an American former Treasury bond trader for Salomon Brothers who was convicted in an illegal bidding scandal.

Early life and career
Mozer was born in New York City to Robert and Patricia Mozer. He enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in the fall of 1973. He transferred to Whitman College, where he majored in economics, edited the school newspaper and graduated in 1977. He graduated from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, with a master's degree.

In 1979, Mozer joined Salomon's Chicago office. In 1983, he married Francine Lee. He was transferred to Salomon's New York Government bond desk.

Indictment and conviction
Mozer's strategy was arbitrage. He would short government bonds in the "when issued" market and then cover his shorts at the Government auction. In order to make more money, he needed to be a large buyer, driving up the price in the aftermarket. Mozer was publicly critical of the Government's 35% bid limit rule; "the 35% bid-limit rule became known to many on Wall Street, as the “Mozer/Basham” rule".

When the government restricted Salomon's bid to 35% in August 1990, Mozer submitted bids for 35% in the name of S.G. Warburg and Quantum Fund (without their knowledge), for a total of 105%. However, Warburg submitted its own bid, and the government notified Warburg that it was restricting its bid. Mozer scrambled to assure Warburg that it was a "clerical error." His supervisor, John Meriwether chewed him out for the transgression, but he was not fired.

In May 1991, Salomon, using the same methods, bought $10.6 billion of the $11.3 billion two-year note auction. A short squeeze began. Officials at the Treasury talked to officials at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about apparent Market manipulation. John Gutfreund met with United States Department of the Treasury officials giving assurances. United States Department of Justice officials met with officials from the New York Fed and E. Gerald Corrigan. Salomon issued a press release, but this failed to placate the Government; they threatened to pull trading authority from Salomon.

On August 9, 1991, Mozer was suspended along with Thomas Murphy.

Salomon was fined $290 million, the largest fine ever levied on an investment bank at the time, weakening it and eventually leading to its acquisition by Travelers Group, now a part of Citigroup. CEO Gutfreund left the company in August 1991; a SEC settlement resulted in a fine of $100,000 and his being barred from serving as a chief executive of a brokerage firm; Warren Buffett became chairman and appointed Deryck Maughan president.

On December 3, 1992, the SEC filed a complaint against Mozer for filing "false bids" On January 12, 1993, he was indicted by a federal grand jury. He was represented by Stanley Arkin. Judge Leval in Manhattan sentenced Mozer to four months in a minimum security prison and a fine of $30,000.

Current projects
In 2001, there were rumors he was at a hedge fund.