Mark Yagalla's Blog, page 4

Wall Street scammer stole Hugh Hefner’s Playmate girlfriend by giving her $100,000 monthly allowance and American Express platinum card with UNLIMITED CREDIT

Mark Yagalla has published a new book detailing his lavish life of excess

The 37-year-old was sent to prison for scamming investors out of $50milion

Sex addict wooed Playboy cover model with expensive jewellery and cars

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A Wall Street trader who stole Hugh Hefner's Playmate girlfriend and scammed investors out of $50million has written a tell-all book about his life.

In 'Wall Street Joyride - the Prodigy, the Playmate and the Missing $50million', ex-con Mark Yagalla has given a blow-by-blow account of his extravagant lifestyle before he was jailed for swindling customers out of $50million,

Now 37 years old, sex addict Yagalla writes how he swept Playboy cover model Sandy Bentley off her feet by giving her a $100,000 monthly allowance and an unlimited American Express platinum card.

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Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, he said that between paying Bentley, nights at the casino and jetting around the world, he was spending at least $1,000,000 a month - in an attempt to emulate his idol Hugh Hefner.

'It was like, that’s who I want to be. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, they have millions of dollars and are married to the same woman and have no fun', he said.

The book talks about Yagalla's sex addiction and his 14-month relationship with Hefner's girlfriend.

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The Wall Street scammer who stole Hugh Hefner’s girlfriend

Mark Yagalla — the one-time Wall Street whiz who scammed investors out of $50 million and was in jail by 24 — has just published a tell-all, “Wall Street Joyride,” outlining his life of excess, including how he stole his idol Hugh Hefner’s Playmate girlfriend Sandy Bentley.

In the book, Yagalla, 37, recalls: “When I could have been setting myself up for life, I was spending it as fast as it came in.” He was busted in 2000 by the feds for draining millions from his Ashbury Capital Partners to buy himself Bentleys, a helicopter, oil wells, furs, Rolexes and homes. A report at the time said: “His offenses left investors, many of them in their twilight years, wiped out.”

But while Hefner was giving Bentley a measly $1,000 a month, Yagalla swept her off her feet, and “she got bumped up to $50,000 a month, and then $100,000,” he writes. “Plus, she got her own platinum American Express card with no limit. She was averaging another $100,000 a month on the Amex. Between Sandy, the plane and the casinos, I was going through a minimum of $1 million a month.” Her room-service bill “typically ran over $1,000 each time Sandy ordered.”

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“Wall Street Joyride”

But Yagalla idolized Hefner, telling us via phone, “It was like, that’s who I want to be. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, they have millions of dollars and are married to the same woman and have no fun.”

The Wall Streeter who shelled out millions for love wound up spending five years in jail — but perhaps he dodged a bullet: Bentley’s next boyfriend, part-time model Michael Tardio, was found dead in a burning, bullet-ridden SUV in 2002 after trying to sell $1 million in jewelry Yagalla had given her.

Now living in Thailand, Yagalla, an admitted sex addict, told us Wednesday, “There’s regret all the time. At the same time I look back and it’s like, I was a kid! People were giving millions and millions of dollars to a kid.” In the book, he apologizes to his victims, writing, “To my countless victims. Words cannot begin to express my sorrow. I am truly sorry for your loss.”

Bentley’s reportedly now a married mom.

Daily Market Commentary 5/6/2015

Today is the first of my daily market commentary series. My goal with this series is to provide my thoughts on the market, update my positions, and provide valuable and actionable trading and investment ideas. It will be a recap of the prior day's events and my outlook for the day ahead. I hope it provides value in a concise manner. We all want to get through all the BS and get to the nuts and bolts of what's happening.

My main concern right now is earnings. I've been seeing more companies missing earnings rather than beating. This is not a good sign and has me getting cautious on the overall market. Billionaire Carl Icahn echoed this sentiment this past weekend on the show Wall Street Week.

What's Happening?

Overseas, there are a few things happening. All eyes are on China. The Chinese stock market is up about 80% since November and investors are wondering whether this bull run can continue, especially after HSBC's Purchasing Manager's Index fell to 48.9 in April, down from 49.6 in March. Anything below 50 indicates an economy that is contracting, which is not a good sign. However, in today's market, bad news is good news in the sense that market participants are hoping that China will release more stimulus measures to shore up a faltering economy.

The other concern for the Chinese stock market is that brokerage firms have been tightening margin requirements. This will hit the mom and pop Chinese investors that have been helping to drive the market higher. Most of these investors are not sophisticated and if there's a rush to the exits, look out.

Another item of interest to market participants is both Bill Gross and Jeffrey Gundlach saying German Bunds are overvalued. There's a bubble in fixed income assets as investors search for safety and yield. Why anyone would buy a 30 year treasury bond yielding 2.9% is beyond me. However, shorting them is a risky proposition. Yields have fallen as the stock market has rallied. Where will money flow when there is a correction? It will flow into US and German bonds just like it did in the last financial crisis.

Recent Calls

I tweeted yesterday for investors to buy WTI crude oil futures - $CL_F.

WTI crude looking like it wants to break out. Time to buy some futures.

— Mark Yagalla (@markyagalla) May 5, 2015

I got in at $59.43. Futures are currently trading at $61.76. I always use a $1 stop when trading crude and risk $1000 per contract. I'm currently up $2.33, or $2,330 per contract.

Current Stock Picks

Boeing BA $142.97 -$1.05

Chevron CVX $108.00 -$0.32

IBM $173.08 -$0.89

Integrated Device Technology IDTI $19.32 $0.95

McDonald's MCD $96.13

Starbucks SBUX $49.41 -$1.04

SM Energy SM $57.48 -$0.19

Walgreens Boots Alliance WBA $83.14 -$0.99

Portfolio Updates

I have sold some stocks to raise cash and deploy elsewhere. I've taken profits in my winners BLMN, CRI, DRI, FLEX, GNC, HOLX, KNL, LWAY, PBH, PVA, WSO, and XOXO. I cut my losses in RTK and BHP. I doubled my position in Boeing and SM Energy.

I raised my cash % because I'm looking for a pullback and I've identified a few stocks that I like. I look for companies with a PEG ratio less than 1 and trading under 15 times next year's earnings.  Stocks within this category meet my margin of safety.

New Recommendations

None

Final Thoughts

There are a few stocks that I'm researching and getting ready to pull the trigger on. Will post an update here and on Seeking Alpha when I do. IDTI beat expectations, but SM missed earnings expectations. Will have an update on both shortly. If SM sells off, I will buy the dip. It's one of my favorite companies right now. I started buying the stock in December around $30 and it's $57 now.

In terms of commodities, I'm bullish oil and I'm looking at going long soybeans and natural gas. Will update when I do.

In terms of forex, Goldman Sachs came out today and said they're expecting a dollar rally. If history is any indication, that means go short the dollar. Research out of Goldman sucks and they're almost always wrong with their calls. Trade accordingly!

To get my updates on time, please go to markyagalla.com and sign up at the bottom to receive updates as soon as they're published. Follow me on social media as well.

Thank you and best of luck to everyone!

Looking for Oil Breakout

WTI crude looking like it wants to break out. Time to buy some futures.

— Mark Yagalla (@markyagalla) May 5, 2015

Boeing – Look For Further Gains In 2015

Summary

Shares of Boeing are up 20% since I first recommended them last December.
The sell-off after earnings is a buying opportunity as the company is still on track to have a banner year.
After posting weak cash flow in Q1, Boeing still expects to deliver its goal of over $9 billion in operating cash flow this year.

So far this year, shares of Boeing (NYSE:BA) are performing as I expected. I wrote about Boeing back in December when shares were trading at around $124. I said that I expected shares to rebound in 2015 after a lackluster 2014. Investors who followed my recommendation are up 20% and I expect further gains ahead. To read more, please visit Seeking Alpha.

SM Energy – Still Bullish After Nearly 100% Gains

Summary

Shares of SM Energy have nearly doubled since December and look to still offer value to investors.
SM Energy is projected to have costs of $32.52 a barrel in the Eagle Ford.
Company has increased productivity from 142.5 MBOE/d in 3Q14 to 186.4 MBOE/d in 1Q15.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) was one of the few times where I was able to time the market just about perfect. Back in December, I recommended readers pick up shares when SM Energy was trading at $30.84. I called the company one of those picks that was "too cheap to ignore." Shares then, shares hit a low of $29.41 and have been in an upward trajectory ever since.

To continue reading, please visit Seeking Alpha.

Seeking Alpha Update

I blog about stocks on Seeking Alpha. Here is an update I posted today.

Dear Seeking Alpha Follower,

All of you remember me from my anonymous contributor name Asean Century. I am now writing under my real name.

I apologize for not posting any new articles in 2015, but I've been busy finishing my book Wall Street Joyride: The True Story of the Prodigy, the Playmates and the Missing $50 Million. The book tells the story of how I started as a teenage stock trader, made my first million at 19, and then screwed it all up by the time I was 23. I think it's a good read and I'm happy that I wrote it. It's available on Amazon now.

Now that the book is finished, I'll get back to picking stocks. For those of you that have followed me, I hope you picked up some of my recommendations.

According to TipRanks, I am ranked #81 out of 4360 bloggers and have a 5 star rating. Of the 68 recommendations I have made, 58 have been winners. My average pick has risen 21.3%.

Here are some of my best picks on Seeking Alpha.

Company
Recommended Price
Current Price
Article


Boeing (NYSE:BA)
$124.25
$152.43
Link


Bloomin' Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN)
$16.38
$22.83
Link


Carter's (NYSE:CRI)
$75.33
$94.45
Link


Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)
$47.53
$67.05
Link


Flextronics International (NASDAQ:FLEX)
$9.43
$12.76
Link


Gannett (NYSE:GCI)
$28.99
$35.71
Link


Integrated Device Technology (NASDAQ:IDTI)
$10.55
$20.38
Link


Knoll (NYSE:KNL)
$15.32
$23.25
Link


Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY)
$14.19
$20.62
Link


Prestige Brands Holdings (NYSE:PBH)
$26.74
$44.69
Link


Penn Virginia (NYSE:PVA)
$5.01
$7.99
Link


SM Energy (NYSE:SM)
$30.84
$58.42
Link


XO Group (NYSE:XOXO)
$10.05
$17.67
Link

 

I like everyone else had a few losers. My biggest loser was FXCM (NYSE:FXCM). I did not expect the Swiss Central Bank move and it hit FXCM hard. In addition, I'm dealing with a loss on Rentech (NASDAQ:RTK). I plan on doing a follow-up on this pick shortly. It might be time to double down on this one.

I look forward to my research and hope you all continue to follow me if you are not too offended by the book. Thanks again and best of luck to everyone!

Mark Yagalla

markyagalla.com

Disclosure: The author is long BA, BLMN, DRI, FLEX, IDTI, PBH, PVA, SM, XOXO, RTK.

Themes: Follower Update and Stock Recaps

What I Learned Sharing a Girl With Hugh Hefner

I, like millions of others, at one point idolized Hugh Hefner. The image that he has portrayed was what I inspired to be. I wanted to be a Playboy just like Hugh Hefner.

 

Over the years and through countless interviews, Hefner has branded himself as the ultimate ladies’ man. It led me to believe that Hefner was Casanova himself reincarnated.

 

The problem is that it’s all a lie. It’s all BULLSHIT. I witnessed the true Hefner firsthand when we dated the same girl, Sandy Bentley.

 

I had met Sandy in August of 1999 when my girlfriend at the time, Playboy’s Miss May 1999 Tishara Cousino, introduced us. I remembered seeing pictures of Sandy and her twin sister Mandy in the pages of Playboy magazine as one of Hef’s new girlfriends along with future Playmate of the Year Brande Roderick. The first thing I asked Sandy was all about Hef. I mean the man was my idol. To me, he was a God. I wanted to know all about him.

“So, what’s it like to be Hugh Hefner’s girlfriend?” I asked.

“He wishes,” Sandy replied.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not really his girlfriend. That’s just to sell magazines.”

 

Later in our relationship, Sandy did admit that Hef really thought of her as his girlfriend and that she did have sex with him. Naturally, I wanted to know what sex with Hef was like. Sandy said, “Someone needed to teach that boy a long time ago what to do with a woman.” Sandy further added, “He doesn’t even know how to drive a car. How is he going to know how to please a woman?”

 

Ouch!!

 

In my book, Wall Street Joyride, I talk about this further.

 

She said sex with Hef was all mechanical and it didn’t mean anything. All he did was lay there. The girls took turns giving him a blowjob and then one of the girls would ride on top of him. Usually that was Brande Roderick, who didn’t have her own bedroom and lived instead in Hef’s room. Sandy said the worst part was all the baby oil that was lathered over his pale white body. The baby oil also caused the girls to get yeast infections because condoms were never used. The girls used to make fun of how white he was and then Hef started to use the tanning beds at the mansion to give him some color.

Hef was really into porn. Sandy said sometimes gay porn played on one of his big TVs in his room. He also liked it when the twins went down on one another. Sandy said that her sister Mandy should have won an Oscar for her performance, and how well she faked it.

Sex with Hef was at most two nights a week and it was usually after they went out to the nightclubs. The girls knew when he was in the mood because he would ask them, “You want to smoke?” Hef would ply the girls with marijuana to get them in the mood. Hef also would give the girls ecstasy or any other drugs that they wanted.

 

This little trick of Hef’s ended up backfiring on him when the girls would pretend to get so wasted that they would pass out in the club. This way they got out of taking care of his Viagra hard-on. Hef always kept his Viagra in a tissue and popped the little blue pill when he was in the club. Later, Hef had to bring on a fourth girlfriend, Jessica Paisley, because she became the designated hitter for the hot girls like Sandy, Mandy and Brande. Jessica was taking “one for the team.”

 

For me, the straw that broke the camel’s back was when Sandy would let me listen in on her nightly check-in calls with Hef. I had told Sandy that I didn’t believe he was really that bad and she said, “If you don’t believe me, listen for yourself.” As she was talking to Hef, I was on the other phone listening to their conversation.

 

If the girls were out of town, they were required to call him and say good night. All he did was complain about where were the girls, what were they doing, and why weren’t they with him. He was probably one of the most pathetic individuals I had ever witnessed. What 75-year-old man complains to a 20-year-old girl about what she’s doing? My grandfather was the same age as Hef and he didn’t have to whine to my grandmother. If my grandfather told my grandmother to do something, believe me, she did it.

 

The crazy thing is that Hef really thought that these girls loved him and he was their only boyfriend. Every single one was fucking other guys and laughing behind his back. They all called him the “old man.” Very few girls have publicly come out and said this for fear of being ostracized from the Playboy Mansion.

 

After Hefner found out about Sandy and me, he imposed a 9 PM curfew on his new crop of girlfriends. He also had the Mansion staff keep track of each girl’s movements as to what time they left the Mansion and came back in. He was hoping to avoid another Mark Yagalla, but instead the girls started hooking up with the butlers who worked at the Mansion behind Hef’s back.

 

I was saddened when I discovered all of this about Hef. It was like finding out as a little kid that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy aren't real. It’s also like finding out that Bill Cosby isn’t “America’s Dad” anymore. The reality is that the media has built up celebrities to be who they want us to believe they are instead of who they really are. Hef is just an immature, selfish individual that has exploited women all his life to make millions of dollars and to satisfy himself. You would think that he would be a real-life Romeo or Casanova and make love to all these women, but he's not. The sad part is that the millions of men that idolize Hef would have gladly done whatever was necessary to make Hef’s Playmates happy. I know I made quite a few happy and that’s something I can hang my hat on.

Wall Street Joyride: The True Story of the Prodigy, the Playmates and the Missing $50 Million is available now on Amazon.

Why I Wrote Wall Street Joyride

I’ve been told for the longest time that I have an awesome story and that it should be told. I tried in the past and had talks with film producers and agents. None of which went anywhere. I even had a big name literary agency represent me in 2010, but they dropped me right after the 48 Hours story broke as they felt my story was “too controversial and not the right fit for their agency.”

It was only in the last year, that I got serious about going forward. A number of people pushed me to this step and I’m happy that they did. Here’s why I’m happy that I did it.

There’s no better way for self-reflection then when you have to put part of your life down on paper. We all have a story to tell, but unfortunately, most don’t get told. If anyone thought about writing about their life, do it. You won’t regret it.

I’m no Ernest Hemingway or Harper Lee, but what I did was tell my story how I would tell the person sitting next to me. I hope I provided enough visual contexts to give the reader a picture of what I was experiencing.

I’ve discovered that I enjoy writing. Had I known how enjoyable it is, I would have majored in literature or journalism instead of finance.

It was also important to clarify a number of misperceptions about me. The most common one is that I was just raising money, spending and not doing any investing. Well in 1999, I was the venture capitalist behind travelnow.com. I made a quick $10 million on that one deal alone. Readers will see how that event ratcheted up my spending and how things spiraled out of control quickly. I was counting on a takeover from Hotel Reservations Network to bail me out. They did buy travelnow.com, but after I was arrested.

In 2000, I had positioned myself to go to the next level. Joe DiMartino, the Chairman of Dreyfus Funds became the Chairman of my firm. I opened new offices in New York and Boston. One of the largest brokers at Salomon Smith Barney pledged over $100 million to a new fund that I set up.

While most of the press has been directed towards my relationship with Playboy and Hugh Hefner, I met a lot of influential and important people. Some of the people that I met and that I talk about in my book include:

President George W. Bush

Bush’s best friend and Commerce Secretary Don Evans

Legendary Texas oil man Tom Brown

New York Times’ Publisher Arthur Sulzberger

Washington Redskins’ owner Dan Snyder

Kimco Realty’s Milton Cooper

US Ambassador to Italy and Australia Mel Sembler

Fox News’ Charlie Payne

New York Daily News owner Fred Drasner

Former President of Marriott Hotels and Northwest Airlines Fred Malek

US Ambassador to USSR and Russia Bob Strauss

Sting and his wife Trudie Styler

Paris Hilton's uncle Eric Hilton

MBNA’s Charlie Cawley

Rockrose Development’s Jeffrey Elghanayan

Bally Gaming boss Arthur Goldberg.

I was in the oil business with Tom Brown. I leased the luxury box at FedEx Field next to FedEx CEO Fred Smith for $300,000 a year. Mel Sembler and Jeffrey Elghanayan were clients of mine. Eric Hilton sponsored my membership at Spanish Trail Country Club. In 2000, I gave $320,000 to the Republican Party.

There’s also the underworld element that I dealt with. I dealt with members and associates of the Gambino crime family. I loaned $1 million to a mob-controlled brokerage firm in New Jersey. One of my clients was a union pension fund in Queens that was controlled by the mob and funneled money into my hedge fund in exchange for a piece of my fees. I tried to buy a strip club in Florida for $1.2 million, but was told by a mob partner that if I bought it, he’d burn the place down.

There’s a misperception that I’m a sex addict. Yes, there’s a lot of sex in the book, but I don’t consider myself a sex addict. I’m addicted to women, not sex. I genuinely love women. I love everything about them and I just can’t get enough. To me, a sex addict is about instant gratification. I was never about that. I was always out to please women. That’s why I showered them with presents and wanted to make them happy no matter what. Yes there are some stories in the book where I screwed over girls, but I always had a reason behind it. If I was a sex addict, I would not have turned down Tishara Cousino and a threesome with Jenna Jameson and Jill Kelly!

For those of you that buy the book, I hope you enjoy it. I stand behind it as all of it is 100% true. It all really happened. Writing this book has been a great experience for me and I couldn’t be happier with the finished product. It’s my story and while I have plenty of regrets, I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am today had none of it happened. Because of that, I can say I’m grateful because I’m truly happy. I hope to write more about my experiences and hopefully provide some guidance to others as to how they can find their happy spot as well. Best wishes and best of luck to everyone.

Wall Street Joyride: The True Story of the Prodigy, the Playmates and the Missing $50 Million is available now on Amazon.

Tunnels Under the Playboy Mansion?

Sources are saying that Hugh Hefner built tunnels to go from the Playboy Mansion to other celebrities' homes. They may have been there in the 1970s, but trust me, they aren't there now. Hef had to close them. Too many girls were trying to leave the Playboy Mansion and sleep with guys behind his back. In my book Wall Street Joyride, you'll read about an entirely different Hugh Hefner. He's not the heterosexual icon he claims to be!

According to Mediate, while looking in Hugh Hefner‘s photograph archives, Playboy inadvertently discovered one of the creepiest secrets of the late 70′s: a bunch of male Hollywood stars had secret tunnels built between their houses and the legendary sex house.

According to Polaroids and blueprints found by the Playboy editorial staff, the Playboy Mansion underwent a massive construction project in 1977. Part of the project included some discreet underground tunnels, one of them starting at the house of one “Mr. J. Nicholson,” and ending at the Mansion itself. So let’s puzzle this one out: who’s a 1970′s celebrity with a legendary libido with the name J. Nicholson okay it’s Jack Nicholson let’s stop wasting time here.

The schematics included the names of other prominent male celebrities with secret tunnels built into their homes: Warren Beatty, Kirk Douglas and James Caan, “all of whom lived near the Playboy Mansion during the late 1970s and early 1980s.”

You’d think that Playboy would be able to get an exclusive comment about the secret tunnels built into the house owned by their owner. You’d think that they could even get a few more details beyond a few blueprints. But alas, no one would talk — not even the Hef:

We asked if we could see the tunnels. A staff member said, off the record, “I heard they were closed up sometime in 1989.” Hugh Hefner married Playmate Kimberley Conrad in 1989. We went back to the general manager, and he said he couldn’t discuss it further.

We then asked The Mansion staff for more info about the celebrity tunnels, and we were told Mr. Hefner did not wish to comment. We reached out to reps for Nicholson, Caan, Douglas and Beatty, and they have not agreed to comment.

This is all the info we’ve been able to dig up.

Hugh Hefner turns 89 on April 9, and apparently will take the secrets of the Playboy Mansion to his grave.