Anthony "Tino" De Angelis (November 3, 1915 – September 26, 2009)[3] was a Bayonne, New Jersey, commodities trader who dealt in vegetable oil futures worldwide.
When he found out that the new National School Lunch Act program would buy practically any food items (given certain price requirements) he took over the Adolph Gobel Company in North Bergen, New Jersey and was awarded a large contract, whence he promptly overcharged the government by $31,000.
He formed Allied in a dilapidated "tank farm" in Bayonne, New Jersey and, with the patronage of several major grain exporters, began shipping massive quantities of substandard shortening and other vegetable oil products to Europe.
Tino De Angelis was a new customer and Amex wrote warehouse receipts for many millions of barrels of vegetable oil with him as beneficiary.
With Amex staking its reputation behind all the oil and with De Angelis offering great deals, mainstream companies such as Bunge Limited, Staley, and Procter and Gamble were soon participating.
On November 22, 1963, NYSE president G. Keith Funston attempted to avert a market crash as Ira Haupt's 20,700 customers, fearing financial ruin, scrambled to sell their oil holdings before they became worthless.
Because of all the trades the brokerage firm did on De Angelis' behalf, various banks were left holding the bag with over $37 million in unrecoverable loans.
This rush, combined with the panic ensuing from the shooting of President Kennedy that afternoon, led to 2.6 million shares being sold and the Dow dropping 24 points (about 5%) in 27 minutes.
In the wake of the scandal, keen observer and investor Warren Buffett took advantage of the plunge in the price of American Express shares and bought 5% of the company for only $20 million.