Background Who The Central Figure Is & What Caused This Scandal

The Central Figure Born in 1956, Spencer C. Young is a professional whose career has spanned approximately three decades in corporate finance, banking and commercial real estate, during which time he has worked at some of the most prestigious institutions and market leaders in their respective industries: ⇨  Dun & Bradstreet – a business information services conglomerate; ⇨  Citicorp  – then the largest commercial real estate lender in the U.S.; ⇨  JPMorgan – arguably at the time, the most revered bank in the world; and ⇨  Morgan Stanley – then known as a “blue chip” investment bank. Mr. Young founded the Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (“CMBS”) business at JPMorgan in 1994, and served as chief operating officer of its commercial mortgage lending and securitization unit (a/k/a “CMBS Conduit”), which transformed JPMorgan from “non-existent” to the #2 market leader in the issuance of newly originated CMBS.

The Root Cause When Mr. Young joined Morgan Stanley in 1997 to run their then languishing CMBS Conduit, he grew annual transaction volume five-fold to $2.5 billion within two years, and for 3 of the 4 years Mr. Young served in that role, Morgan Stanley was the #1 global market leader in CMBS underwriting.  Moreover, Mr. Young created and trademarked a highly successful proprietary brand of CMBS, known as the IQ® (“Institutional Quality”) CMBS franchise, which was valued at $250 million at the time of its development, and considerably more thereafter. Ironically, it was the overwhelming success of the IQ® franchise, coupled with the esurient kakistocracy at Morgan Stanley that spawned MorganStanleyGate.