An academic, who was fired from being the British government's drug tsar for saying ecstasy was as safe as horseback riding, recently said cocaine use is what caused the financial crisis.
Professor David Nutt, who teaches neuropsychopharmacology, told the Sunday Times that coke made bankers overconfident leading them to take enormous risks, the Telegraph reported.
We're not sure we buy his argument, but we have dug up some of the crazy tales of Wall Streeters and cocaine.
In 1987, 16 brokers were arrested during a cocaine bust called 'Operation Buy and Cry'
Months before the market crash of 1987, there was a drug crackdown so-called "Operation Buy and Cry."
It was called that because when they would be caught buying the illicit drug, they would cry because they destroyed their careers, the Sun Sentinel reported.
Mid-way through the month of April of 1987, authorities had busted more than a hundred as part of the operation.
During one of those stings, which was code-named "Operation Closing Bell," a bunch of Wall Streeters were arrested for cocaine. What's even crazier is they were selling the drug for stocks and information.
There was a time when buying coke on Wall Street was as easy as making a trip to TGI Fridays
The Trinity Place location of TGI Fridays was busted in 2009 for selling marijuana and cocaine to its Wall Street patrons.
According a report from The New York Times, the bartender would pass the drugs folded up in napkins, in exchange for cash. The dealer/bartenders reportedly sold drugs to undercover cops over a dozen times.
As they say: "In here, it's always Friday"
Source: The New York Times
Jordan Belfort admitted he had a daily regimen of cocaine and quaaludes in his memoir, The Wolf of Wall Street
And it's not surprising that it didn't end well. He ran notorious Stratton Oakmont brokerage house with a recklessness immortalized in the 2000 film "The Boiler Room."
On this cocaine diet Belfort managed to crash a helicopter, crash his Mercedes into five other vehicles and sink a yacht, all while laundering money to Switzerland and performing pump and dump schemes to boost his own income.
Source: CNBC.com
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.