96% Market Moves, 4% Justice: Meet Wall Street’s Favorite Judge Eric Komitee
I have been covering the story of conflicted Judge Eric Komitee and his show trial of Carlos Watson.
A gentleman who claims to know Komitee submitted this guest view. I changed his name at his request. He claims he knows of four people who spoke to Judge Komitee about Watson before Komitee got the case, which he claims he asked for. He says he is waiting to see what happens with Watson, and if there is an investigation into Komitee, he may choose to sit it out, hence anonymity.
He also said Komitee underreported his net worth and forgot to mention a few sales he made on his 2023 financial disclosures, and that he should have made some disclosures concerning certain changes in his portfolio in 2024, which he is delinquent in doing.
I have not yet confirmed what ‘Herschel Katzman’ told me. He may have an ax to grind with Komitee, so he may be as biased as Komitee was against Watson. Nevertheless, here is what he wrote:
Guest View
By ‘Herschel Katzman’
Eric Komitee made his fortune not by brilliance but by proximity.
He’s no wizard with the markets, but he knows the right people, and plays the long game. Most of his money—let’s call it $100 million, though it’s probably $10 million more—came from walking the line at Viking Global, rubbing shoulders with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, and turning favors into fortune.
Judge Eric Komitee fancies himself a Wall Street savant, but the truth is, he leans heavily on his friends to guide him.
He wrote the contracts with Goldman Sachs, handled the deals, and made sure everybody left the table happy—including himself. He did business with Goldman Sachs every day for at least 2009 to 2017.
Eric’s real talent isn’t investing—it’s positioning. He likes to invest in the markets. Sitting in chambers as a federal judge, he’s trading stocks, making calls, and shorting something, then showing up late to court in his black robe, and everyone rises.
People love to joke and mock Eric, whispering how he is a part-time judge but full-time stock trader even while presiding over cases.
The Talmud says, “When a judge sits to judge, he is as if he has a sword hanging over his head.”
Eric must’ve traded that sword for a Bloomberg terminal.
He plays the stock market like dreidel. He’s got ETFs, options, long and short positions, and hedge fund ties with his closest friends.
While other judges are poring over case law, Eric’s poring over his portfolio.
When he meets his friends, they talk about trades, options, short-selling, arbitrage, economic forecasts, maximizing returns, soft landing optics, and yield curves. He isn’t talking about strict constructionism vs. living constitutionalism.
I wouldn’t call him a dummy, but let’s be honest: his role on the bench in Brooklyn Federal Court is more about leveraging his position than delivering justice. It’s all just part of the monetization game for him.
I wouldn’t call him a dummy, but let’s be honest: his role on the bench in Brooklyn Federal Court is more about leveraging his position than delivering justice.
It’s no accident he still sits on one of Viking’s boards—he’s keeping his hand in the game, as he pretends to dispense impartial justice.
And this scandal with Carlos Watson?
You don’t need to be a genius. Eric asked for that case, and everyone on the Street knows why. Watson offended the wrong people, and Eric’s been looking for a chance to prove his loyalty to the tribe he really belongs to—the big money crowd.
A federal judge who’s still trading stocks and keeping tabs on his prime brokers isn’t impartiality; it’s leverage.
The Talmud says, “He who judges unfairly is like one who plants thorns in the vineyard.”
Eric might think he’s planting roses, but he’s going to step on some thorns. If he thinks no one is watching, just because they don’t bring it up to him to his face, he’s wrong.
Everyone talks, and everyone remembers. This isn’t about Watson. This is about a stock trader who became a judge who trades on power and connections like it’s another asset class.
Judge Eric Komitee
Komitee’s ties to Goldman Sachs—one of Watson’s alleged victims—run deep. Not only does he invest in Goldman, but he’s also done serious business with them back in his Viking Global days. It’s no wonder Wall Street whispers refer to him as “the Goldman Sachs judge.”
Komitee’s ties to Goldman Sachs—one of Watson’s alleged victims—run deep. It’s no wonder Wall Street refers to him as “the Goldman Sachs judge.”
Eric R. Komitee
Judge Eric Komitee
Eric Komitee plays games in two worlds.
The ratio of money earned by Stocktrader Judge Komitee
The ratio of money earned by Stocktrader Judge Komitee who earns about $6,000,000 in the market and about $240,000 as a judge.
Four percent of Judge Komitee’s income comes from his judicial salary, while 96 percent comes from his stock trades, short sales, and hedge fund investments.
After he remanded Watson to custody post-verdict and pre-sentencing, word around the courthouse was, “Old Eric’s hair turned quite gold, man, from glee.” Another quipped, “Yeah, he sure gave the Sachs to Watson.”
