Yesterday federal prosecutors charged Hafiz Muhammad Zubair Naseem, a Credit Suisse investment banker, with insider trading. He is accused of tipping off a banker in Pakistan with information about nine corporate acquisitions, including the TXU buyout.

It appears that Naseem was more or less a full-time insider trading professional, using his position—as well as his office phone—at Credit Suisse to obtain information about deals and leak them to his foreign contact from the very start. The SEC says he began his lawbreaking “[i]immediately upon obtaining employment at Credit Suisse in March 2006.”

But he doesn’t seem to have been especially clever about it. This wasn’t an elaborate system of dead-drops, or tips passed along through cut-outs. Naseem was simply calling his banker-buddy in Pakistan with the information. Did he really think he’d get away with that for very long? Apparently the answer is yes.

The good news is that Credit Suisse seems to have played a role in catching him. “We immediately brought the activities of this employee to the attention of the relevant authorities,” the Swiss bank said in a statement. Since this type of insider trading is basically theft from his employers and clients, it is good to see that Credit Suisse apparently helped uncover his alleged activities.

Naseem is 37 years old, and a Pakistani national. He worked for the Global Energy Group at Credit Suisse. In addition to TXU, Naseem is accused of passing along tips involving Hydril Co., Trammell Crow Co., John H. Harland Co., Energy Partners Ltd., Veritas DGC Inc., Jacuzzi Brands Inc., Caremark Rx Inc. and NorthWestern Corp. He is charged with one count of conspiracy and 25 counts of securities fraud.

Some of you may have lost sleep over that bit in Opening Bell this morning (yes, the highly prized 9:30 am-10 am nap), about TXU chief executive John Wilder getting a whopping $280 million upon the completion of the TPG buy-out. You were probably worried that TXU was going on one of its annual Let’s Stuff Money in Paper Bags and Light It On Fire-type spending sprees, were you not? Well worry no longer: turns out the Texans are actually quite stingy, particularly when it comes to their commander in chief. Deal Journal reports that Wilder’s bonus for 2006 was a measly $1.6 million bonus. And why was Wilder awarded less than Blankfein spent on sheets during the calendar year? Apparently, he only has himself to blame. The company noted in its SEC filing that “While [TXU] delivered record earnings per share and operating cash flow results in 2006, the company fell short of its incentive funding metrics relative to challenging goals approved by the Organization and Compensation Committee.” Basically, Wilder should take a long hard look in the mirror and think about what he’s done (or hasn’t done).

Or should he? The best part of this whole thing is that Wilder’s compensation is apparently low because the company failed to meet performance goals, and it was this under performance that hurt the share price and made TXU an inviting target for KKR-TPG. Enter: the $280 million. Fishy, indeed.

Wilder’s Barely Passing Grade at TXU [Deal Journal]

TXU TV: We're Not Going To Burn As Much Coal As We Planned

The video above comes from Texas Energy Future Holdings, the joint-venture partnership set up by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Texas Pacific Group to fund their acquisition of the Texas energy company TXU. They also have a snappy, graphics laden website called TexasEnergyFuture.com.
We’ve run a lot of stories about the online public relations campaigns of Pirate Capital but until now haven’t touch on the phenomenon of political campaign style advertisements in the TXU deal.

We were wondering who was behind the turn to the public airwaves in order to win sympathy for the buyout. Unfortunately, we didn’t get very far in our inquiries with Texas Energy Future Holdings.

“The investors felt the need to let the public know about the transaction,” Jeff Eller told us twice when we asked about who planned the advertising campaign and how the idea was first hatched.

This morning’s Financial Times reports that Bonderman didn’t fare too well when confronted by Dallas mayor Laura Miller during a panel discussion at Milken Institute's annual conference in Los Angeles.

In matters of substance, I would say that Mr Bonderman won on points. But Ms Miller and a member of the audience managed to rile him enough to concede a hostage to fortune. I concluded that the senior partners of private equity firms, who are under the spotlight around the world, still have much to learn about how to behave adroitly in public.

The turning moment of the discussion came, the FT reports, when Bonderman faced a question from an environmentally concerned audience member.

So why did he lose his cool when a self-righteous man from the audience demanded to know whether he felt an ethical responsibility to cease contributing to global warming? "You and others who are absolutists tend to be wrong almost always, in every event, at any time," Mr Bonderman snapped back, promptly losing the audience's sympathy.

It was an ingenue's error. A smile lit up Ms Miller's face and she said: "That was a really interesting answer." No smart politician would have been caught losing his temper with a critic in that way, especially not on camera. As they have learned, in the age of YouTube, one reckless moment can doom them.

Like the male leads who clash with sparky women in Hollywood films, Mr Bonderman is charming but arrogant. I suspect that is true of the heads of other private equity firms. Who might not be with their stellar financial records? But it is no longer tactically wise to show it and the sooner they learn that the better it will be for them and their investors.

We hadn’t seen the video of the debate. So we asked Jeff Eller about it. Was it televised somewhere?

“It wasn’t a debate, it was a panel discussion, and to the best of our knowledge it wasn’t broadcast anywhere,” he said.

So was the "panel discussion" broadcast or not? Does anyone have the video? We haven’t been able to track it down anywhere. Send what you know to tips@dealbreaker.com.

Private equity needs more charm

TXU Wars

From the looks of this video, things are heating up in Texas. The Star Wars credit sequence-style video seems to be aimed at pressuring the Texas legislature to oppose the buyout of the energy company TXU by KKR and the Texas Pacific Group. And it doesn't pull its punches, comp