House of Cards part deux

Well, I am tired and have been putting off writing the follow up to House of Cards for the past two nights. I spent today first with a friend who has been in media and is thinking about starting a political consultancy group. He had kind words for my blog, and also gave me food for thought with respect to tonight's entry. If you recall from my previous entry, I ended with the tale of a hedge fund manager who had pumped a 23 yr old tanning salon assistant in Vegas so full of cocaine that she died in his Vegas apartment. My friend, said, ok, you knew this guy, spent time with him, he evidently had an affair with your ex-fiance, however, most, if not all of this information (other than the affair with my ex) is public knowledge that people have read about in the NY Post, the NY Observer, the WSJ, and the Gawker. How are you going to add anything to the story, he asked. Good point. I'll deal with that in a moment.

The second friend I met with once ran a large trading desk for an investment bank. Speaking with him on subjects ranging from relationships and anthropology (evidently we can fall in love just as deeply and madly at 88 as we can at 28 according to some study my friend cited), to art, and of course to executive compensation. Firstly, speaking with people in trading/sales/investment banking who have achieved success reminds me that more likely than not you are going to find a multifaceted, extremely interesting, well-traveled, well-reasoned, and engaging conversationalist at your disposal (yet, who, I might add, could at a moment's notice also, and am not claiming that this particular friend would, cut your balls off, sell them to gypsies, and use the proceeds for either a night at Scores - now the Saphire Lounge - or a peek into a competing bank's balance sheet, depending on the character type you are dealing with). Anyway, two thoughts on this: First, not all of these guys are the enemy - they are playing by the current rules. If anyone/anything is the enemy it's the rules. I think on this subject he and I agreed. Boards and compensation committees are all tied together by six degrees of seperation. Second, pay could be structured to be paid out gradually over time, rather than lump sum, with clawback provisions added. Again nothing astonishly new. Information doesn't have to be new however, for you to support it, to rally around it, to spread the word, expand the discussion to your friends and neighbors. Sometimes information just has to be right, and right is enough, or at the very least, a starting place.

To return to the comments made by my first friend in regard to how do I contribute on the margin to a piece that has already been run in four, maybe five papers here in NYC. Well, for one, I did spend time with the man. I don't think any of these reporters can say the same. Secondly, I'm not entirely sure everyone did catch this scandal. There were so many, weren't there? It was hard to keep track. Lastly, the reason I am writing it is not a out of Schadenfreude or revenge for his having placed his mummifed man parts in my 27 yr old fiance in exchange for
baubles and extravagant trips, it is something I came across in the Observer. It is beyond me, the utter sycophanticism we as a society have towards those with a few extra benjamins to go around. I think this topic ties in with how CEOs once having amassed a few extra benjamins are able to begin stacking the decks (boardrooms, compensations committiees, political officials) in their favor. So, let me explain in short order. I will post the links to the articles below for further reference. The hedge fund manager (married, with children) gets the fever for the flava of my fiance at the time who could be his daughter. He presents her with his sagging mayo bag he's been tucking into his gold toe socks along with tickets to Aruba or some such place. The affair begins. Said fiance believes he will leave his wife for her, however, he leaves wife, but not for said fiance, but rather for 23 yr old tanning assistant in Vegas. Shortly thereafter, 23 yr old is dead of cocaine overdose in hedge fund managers apartment. Her cell phone records are found, and they state, "I am not having fun. I can't believe how much coke he does, all the time, all day long. He keeps leaving me to talk to a girl he dated. Things are really bad. Ed has been so mean to me"

Ok, great. We have all perhaps experimented. But this guy is 50 years old, she is 23. Anyone in NYC knows how easy it is to manipulate someone so young, so naive, if you have a lot of money as Ed does. So now this girl is dead. Ed chooses then to take some time off from acting CEO of Morgan Hotel and maybe work on his backstroke, get that "deviated septum" looked at, whatever.

What really got to me was the article in the Observer. The artile describes Ed's return to NYC to purchase a 10 million penthouse at 20 Green St. The listing broker Keith Copley describes what a wonderful guy Ed is, and the article references (adoringly) a Gawker post that "teased" Mr. Scheetz "for his Vegas troubles". His Vegas troubles?... a euphomistic way of saying, his providing to a girl half his age waaay too much of an illegal drug that she herself said was making her miserable and eventually killed her.

I've either not lived here long enough to be so jaded as to get the joke, or it's simply not funny. I'm fairly certian if one of the 14, god bless you, people who follow this blog, returned to your hotel room where you had earlier left a girl/guy half your age with a soap dish full of coke and that person is now dead, you would not be "teased" in the Observer while being described as a super nice guy who had had some "Vegas troubles".

So, point being, one set of rules for mummifed man parts with the millions.. one set of rules for the rest of you.

http://www.observer.com/2008/vegas-scandal-refugee-edward-scheetz-buys-soho-penthouse-

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/dead_girl_tells-tale_on-cell

http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/disgraced-hotel-exec-buys-condo-for-10m

Hi, It's been brought to my attention the links are broken. I will amend them, but in the meantime you can google Ed Scheetz 911 call, Ed Scheetz NY Post, Ed Scheetz NY Observer.

Ciao for now,

TST