CNBC's Kate Kelly performs basic journalism and pisses off investors

CNBC reporter Kate Kelly is a former Wall Street Journal reporter, so we can assume she knows how to report a story.

Earlier this week, she did just that, reporting the names of investors who met secretly in Manhattan to plan their strategy to sell their bad mortgages back to the banks.

How she got those names is classic business reporting. According to a lawyer representing the investors, she looked over the shoulder of an employee who had a list of those attending the meeting and read the list.

Kelly is now banned from attending any events that the lawyer’s firm hosts. I bet she’s quivering.

Here is the letter, which was obtained by FT Alphaville, the lawyer wrote to his clients:

To Those Who Attended our Conference on Robosigners:

I have just learned that CNBC purports to have reviewed a list of those who attended today’s conference. This morning CNBC asked me for a list, and I refused. I told CNBC (as well as other journalists who asked) that we respected the privacy of those who did not want their attendance to be publicized. Apparently, CNBC’s reporter looked over the shoulder of our employee who was receiving our guests and who had a list of those who had registered. I have told CNBC that that reporter is not welcome to return to any conference that we sponsor.

Keeping confidences is our most important obligation. My colleagues and I apologize profusely to those whose attendance at our conference was publicized in this underhanded way.

David Grais