On Monday, the BBC’s supposed “financial expert,” Alessio Rastani, became the human face of the financial crisis within the space of a single day, when the video of him telling astonished newscasters that he goes to bed every night “dreaming of another recession” because for him, that’s “an opportunity,” went viral in a big way. The following morning, there was speculation that Rastani’s “candid” remarks were all part of an elaborate hoax played on the BBC by the Yes Men, who denied it.

Now, Rastani admits that he is, fact, not much of a trader, he’s more of an, um, in his own words, an “attention seeker.”

“They approached me,” he told The Telegraph. “I’m an attention seeker. That is the main reason I speak. That is the reason I agreed to go on the BBC. Trading is a like a hobby. It is not a business. I am a talker. I talk a lot. I love the whole idea of public speaking.”

So he’s more of a talker than a trader. A man who doesn’t own the house he lives in, but can sum up the financial crisis in just three minutes – a knack that escapes many financial commentators.

“I agreed to go on because I’m attention seeker,” he said on Tuesday. “But I meant every word I said.”

Good to know he’s a man of his word! Not that this new revelation about his resume in any way contradicts what Mr. Rastani actually said on BBC News about how Goldman Sachs runs the world and all that, but we thought you might like to know…

Is a blunt truth told by a liar—even when he’s more or less caught in the act—invalidated in any way? I don’t think so, the truth is the truth, even if, in this case, the messenger is far less than perfect. Everyone, even professional traders, knows what he said accurately describes the way rapacious final stages of capitalism really works. WHAT he said no one seems to hava a problem with!

Hoaxer, liar, blagger, chancer or merely an “attention seeker, no matter how you slice it, I’m just glad that someone said this out loud... It’s worth watching this clip one more time before you completely forgot about Alessio Rastani’s existence…
 

 
Thank you Chris Campion!