Karen Bruton - The Lamb of Wall Street: How a Trailblazing Financial Executive Found Her True Calling in Creating Economic Opportunity for Impoverished Communities Around the World

The Lamb of Wall Street

How a Trailblazing Financial Executive Found Her True Calling in Creating Economic Opportunity for Impoverished Communities Around the World

Karen Bruton

The Lamb of Wall Street How a Trailblazing Financial Executive Found Her True Calling in Creating Economic Opportunity for Impoverished Communities Around the World

2021 Karen Bruton All rights reserved.

No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, and photographic, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.

No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version). Copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Published by Forefront Books.

Cover Design by Bruce Gore, Gore Studio Inc.

Interior Design by Bill Kersey, KerseyGraphics

Cover photo by Karen Bruton

Jacket photograph courtesy of the author

ISBN: 978-1-63763-009-9

ISBN: 978-1-63763-010-5 (eBook)

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T his books story really starts from Paphos, Cyprus, where, after all the events of life, I had retreated and was contemplating whats next for my journey in this world. It was while I was sitting in that place by myself that I knew I heard a voice in my heart tell me to tell the story now. I didnt really know what that meant, but after a couple of phone calls, I returned to Tennessee and thus began this incredible storytelling journey.

Honestly, I do not believe in looking back on my life. I tend to live in the current time and only look ahead; however, this book has forced me to remember my total life, and I am thankful for that.

First of all, I want to pay tribute to my father. He was just always Dad. To learn what he did in WWII forced me to look at him in a different way, not just as Dad but as a WWII hero. I now understand why I saw him on his knees every night praying.

To Gary Glover, who came up with the idea of this book. It certainly wasnt my idea!

To Michael Blanton, whom Gary called and spoke about my life. Michael, I did not know you, but I agreed to meet with you. I am thankful that Ive gotten to know you and your wife, Paula, and will put you in my dear, dear friends category.

To Wes Yoder, who has offered his expertise in writing and selling this book. I am so grateful to be working with you.

To Christopher, who has saved me in so many ways.

To Jim, whom I have known since my teenage years. He is my best friend.

To Travis Thrasher, who worked with me to tell my story. Travis, I thank God for you and what you have done for me.

To all the people whom I have met all over the world, you have changed my heart, you have changed my life. Whether or not I ever see you again, I will never forget you.

To Lloyd Shadrach, who is my friend and my teacher. He knew what to do that day I walked into his office. He stood in the back of his office while he told me to talk with Jesus.

To my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I will follow you down this narrow path until I get to my final home.

A n option is not at all like a stock. Its a contract that has a beginning and an end. Thats why they appealed to me in the first place.

In 2015, I sat in my office boardroom explaining trading derivatives to a couple of individuals from the SEC who had requested a meeting with me. I mainly traded derivatives, but Ill use the more common name of options. Ever since deciding to trade with options back in 2003, I knew that a lot of people didnt understand how they worked.

The pricing of an option is comprised of two pieces: intrinsic value and extrinsic value, I said as I began to describe how this worked. So heres a simple way to look at options. If I buy a stock, I only make money one way, and thats if the market goes up. But with options, you buy or sell calls and puts. If I buy a call, I make money when the market goes up, but when I buy a put, I make money when the market goes down. I sell mainly puts.

Even though I looked at my way of trading as very simple, I realized people who are not familiar with derivatives do not fully grasp how this works. At the time, even though I wasnt trading under the SEC, I was still registered with them. I conducted all my trading under the authority of the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) and the NFA (National Futures Association). These independent agencies regulated U.S. derivatives markets that included the options I was trading. I had just been through a comprehensive audit during which they didnt find any problems with my trading. The only thing they determined was that I was required to produce one more report for my investors. I already produced monthly reports explaining everything that was happening with their accounts; however, this was a report I had never heard of.

Since the recent CFTC audit hadnt found anything wrong with my bookkeeping and the way I traded, I wasnt worried about this meeting with the SEC. Even though I had just finished going through the process, I happily obliged them with their request to reproduce all the documents so they could conduct their own audit.

Less than a year later, I found myself meeting with the SEC again. This time, I was in a much larger conference room in their office in Atlanta surrounded by a lot more people. I was asked to speak into the microphone they placed in front of me. My lawyers, who were in the conference room with me, were told they were not allowed to speak.

There were two statements I wont ever forget from this meeting. As they kept asking me question after question, and I kept telling them exactly what I was doing, one man just threw up his arms and shook his head.

Somebody else ask this woman a question, he said. I cant get a straight answer out of her.

I was never asked about how I traded; they asked me what I did. The SEC never asked me if my investors understood what I was doing. My investors knew me personally and trusted me, and they loved it because they never lost a penny. But nobody at this meeting asked me questions about this.

I also remember a comment from someone from the SEC during a break: Weve got the female Bernie Madoff here.