As a premium for his fame as a financial genius, Rask valued his portfolio well above the market price of the stocks it contained. Not only that, but in his double capacity as investment banker and sponsor of several trusts, he was able to produce some of the very securities he sold—and he repeatedly issued common stock that he would buy in its entirety (or distribute among favored investors) and then trade to the public for up to eighty percent above his original purchase price.
Is this the first instance of the title, “trust?” Ironically, in a passage devoted to showing how Rask screws people over financially.
