what's a good reputation for?

“The whole point of acquiring a good reputation is to deplete it for gain,” said Frank Partnoy, a professor of finance at the University of San Diego Law School and a former investment banker at Morgan Stanley. “You expand your investor base and find the less sophisticated investor. But you can rebuild your reputation, too. Now is bad, but the memory of financial markets can be measured in days.”

Read the whole article at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/business/08mogul.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5087&em&en=52d6edba738533a6&ex=1205125200

Context does not improve the comment.

I thought we called this kind of person a confidence man. And not in a good way.