Times, July 10, 2008; Gary Weiss, “The Price of Immortality: Does Charity Bring Status? Ask the Second-Richest Man in New York. How David Koch Is Changing Big Philanthropy,” Condé Nast Portfolio, October 15, 2008; David Koch net worth figures taken from Forbes’ lists of world’s richest people, 2002, 2008.
The first signs of trouble . . . trading floor: Franklin, Jeremy Jones, interviews by author, 2013–16; “Dealing with Difficulty,” Discovery: The Quarterly Newsletter of Koch Companies, January 2009.
Cris Franklin, the young trader in Houston: Franklin, interviews by author, 2016.
The risk extended all the way into the foundation: Debt figures from Alan S. Blinder, After the Music Stopped: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead (New York: Penguin Press, 2013), 49–50.
debt was carried in the form of home mortgages: Blinder, After the Music Stopped, 19. Insight into the economic crash also derived from the author’s time as a national business reporter for the Associated Press from 2008 to 2012, when he was covering unemployment, the labor market, and the Great Recession.
Then the loans were packaged into . . . CDOs: Michael Lewis, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (New York: W. W. Norton, 2010); Adam Tooze, Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World (New York: Viking, 2018).
All of these derivatives bets were opaque: Doyle, Georgetown Law School class, “Complex Derivative Transactions,” spring semester of 2013.
a Clinton Administration regulator named Brooksley Born: Peter Coy and Silla Brush, “Top Clinton Aides Blew a Chance to Avert the Financial Crisis,” Bloomberg Businessweek, May 1, 2014.
The black box financial system swelled: Blinder, After the Music Stopped, 59–65.
Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy: Carrick Mollenkamp, Susanne Craig, Serena Ng, and Aaron Lucchetti, “Lehman Files for Bankruptcy, Merrill Sold, AIG Seeks Cash,” Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2008.
The losses on Cris Franklin’s trading desk: Franklin, interviews by author, 2016.
others who worked with Charles Koch saw him behave in the same way: Franklin, Jeremy Jones, interviews by author, 2013–16.
Jeremy Jones came into frequent contact with Charles Koch: Jeremy Jones, interview by author, 2013.
His venture fund, Koch Genesis, was shut down: Ibid.; “Naturally Advanced Technologies Appoints Industry Veteran VP to Advisory Board; Industry Veteran Jeremy K. Jones to Consult on Partnership and Business Development Initiatives,” PR Newswire, March 2, 2009; Jefferson Weaver, “Georgia-Pacific Plant to Close Dec. 1,” News Reporter (Whiteville, NC), October 6, 2008; Gary Haber and Dan Shortridge, “Invista to Lay Off 400 at Nylon Plant,” News Journal (New Castle, DE), October 15, 2008; Geoff Folsom, “Flint Hills Closing: Vest Vows to Find Use for Plant,” Odessa American (TX), November 7, 2008; Geoff Folsom, “Flint Hills ESOP,” Odessa American (TX), January 28, 2009; Jeff Amy, “Monroeville Area to Lose 300 Jobs,” Mobile Register Press (AL), November 12, 2008; “Invista Will Halt Nylon Production in Waynesboro, Vice Mayor Says It’s a ‘Strong Blow’ to City,” News Virginian (Waynesboro, VA), December 10, 2008; Dan Heath, “70 to Lose Jobs at Georgia-Pacific,” Press-Republican (Plattsburgh, NY), December 11, 2008; Jimmy LaRoue, “Invista Cuts Debt by 63 Percent,” News Virginian, February 10, 2009.
The bloodletting at Koch . . . was mild: National job-cut figures compiled from historic database of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Many of the jobs lost in 2008 never came back: Blinder, After the Music Stopped, 10–14.
Things looked very different from Charles Koch’s office: Charles Koch, Hall, Beckett, Markel, Feilmeier, interviews by author, 2013–16.
It’s difficult for outsiders to even understand . . . a contango market: Beckett, former senior Koch Industries trading executives speaking on background, interviews by author, 2013–16.
When the market goes into contango . . . to profit: Ibid.; Robert Tuttle and Alexander Kwiatkowski, “In Troubled Times, Stockpiling Crude May Be the Way to Hit a Profit Gusher,” Bloomberg News, December 9, 2008; “Pricing for Oil, Gas Seems Peculiar,” Times Record News (Wichita Falls, TX), February 8, 2009; Guy Chazan and Russell Gold, “Big Oil Still ‘Printing Money’ Despite Slump in Crude Prices,” Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2009; “Hoarding Crude Boosts Futures Prices: Companies Stockpiling in Supertankers,” Bloomberg News, December 9, 2008.
Outsiders . . . were denied: Steve Everly, “Speculators Profit by Locking in Higher Oil Prices,” Kansas City Star (MO), February 10, 2009.
even David Koch was forced to adjust his behavior and his outlook: Mike Spector, “Big Players Scale Back Charitable Donations,” Associated Press, November 25, 2008.
One evening in Houston . . . an exclusive social event: Franklin, interviews by author, 2016.
First came a giant federal bailout plan: David M. Herszenhorn, “Bailout Plan Wins Approval: Democrats Vow Tighter Rules,” New York Times,