Jonathan Larralde
Professor Rudegeair
MSB 287
April 13, 2016
Margin Call Reflection Paper
Margin Call, a film depicting the financial crisis of 2008 in a specific Wall Street
Investment Firm encompasses a myriad of ethical dilemmas. After a large layoff, a young
risk analyst was passed on a off the record project from his now former boss. The risk
analyst pieced together the off the record project and uncovered that the mortgage-backed
securities would soon exceed the historical volatility levels. This finding triggered a chain
of event for the company that will be outlined in this paper and eventually led to the
destroying of the relationships of their clients.
Following the discovery of the company crisis, meetings were held all night with the
company CEO, key employees, and various executives. At these meetings they discussed
how they would sell the useless assets of the firm before investors become aware of their
worthlessness. Although there was conversation of how this would ruin the firm, the
consensus led to the selling of the useless assets.
Within hours of the discovery of the issue, the next morning began at the office with a
meeting with all of the traders. The traders were made aware of the situation and told that
if they earned 93% reduction in what they called a “Fire sale” they would receive a
seven-figure bonus. The traders were also made aware that by doing this they would be
