Every year, the possibly deranged Michael Pusateri collects time-lapse photography of Halloween costumes and detailed “Well who are you supposed to be?” stats viz. those Trick ‘r Treaters who are unlucky enough to land on his doorstep.
In 2009, ‘nothing’ was the second most popular costume. Also note the ~30% increase in attendance vs. 2008. Possible economic indicators?
It’s a cold day in Iceland. The collapse of the krona, the country’s national currency, has led to the unthinkable: McDonald’s is pulling out.
To be fair, there are only three such establishments in the entire country. And they’ve only been there since 1993. But one can’t help but wonder if McDonald’s—paragon of globalization run amok!—has ever given up ground before.
The nothing-can-be-believed chaos of the financial crisis created a golden opportunity for a blog run by a mysterious ex-hedge-funder with a dodgy past and conspiracy theories to burn.
The excellent, Goldman-flogging financial blog Zero Hedge gets the long-form treatment in New York Magazine.
The sun-drenched apartment, perched high in a Midtown Manhattan building looking down on the famed restaurant Le Cirque, is as luxurious as one would expect for space that cost $10.4 million. Lined with floor-to-ceiling glass, the living room features low divans wrapped in rich golden fabric. On the vast outdoor deck, as big as many apartments, the views stretch north and east, all the way across Long Island Sound toward Connecticut.
Yet even a casual visitor would notice that something is amiss. Dozens of bare hooks line the white walls; all the paintings are gone. Boxes of paperwork litter the floors. In the kitchen, the knives are missing. Bags of trash overflow. The dining-room table is strewn with containers of half-eaten Chinese food. In an adjacent nook, an older man slumps on a sofa watching CNN on a wall-mounted flat-screen television. Unpaid bills are piling up. As nice as this apartment once was, it now feels like a $10 million dorm room.
That’s because it’s a jail. Sort of. On the orders of a federal judge, its owner is living here under house arrest. That man watching CNN? He’s a retired F.B.I. agent, one of several who rotate through all week long. One morning I arrive after 11. The owner, the man the security guards are watching, is just getting out of bed.
His name is Marc Dreier, he is 59 years old, and his life is over. A smallish, tightly wound man with red, stubbled cheeks and a silvery pompadour, Dreier was once a hotshot New York litigator with multi-millionaire clients. Then he stole $380 million from a bunch of hedge funds, got caught, and was arrested in Toronto under bizarre circumstances, having attempted to impersonate a Canadian pension-fund lawyer as part of a scheme to sell bogus securities to the big American hedge fund Fortress Investment Group. Now, as he wanders into the living room rubbing sleep from his eyes, Dreier is waiting for the judge to tell him just how many years he will spend in prison.
As part of a collaboration with 60 Minutes, Vanity Fair‘s Bryan Burroughs recently sat down to talk with Marc Dreier—the guy behind a four-year, $380 million Ponzi scheme discovered at the end of 2008. Dreier was fortunate (??) enough to get caught just days before Bernie Madoff’s infinitely more extensive heist was brought to light. Needless to say, everybody but the justice department forgot who Dreier was overnight.
Which is a shame. Because not only is Dreier an extremely guilty man, but he’s a vastly compelling character—the sort of guy who admits that the main impetus behind his thieving nature is his constant yearnings for a newer beach house.
Oh yeah. And there’s the really interesting part, as detailed in the first paragraph of the blockquote above: Dreier was arrested in Toronto after trying (and failing spectacularly) to impersonate a Canadian lawyer at a meeting with the head of American hedge fund Fortress Investment Group.
Got an hour to kill?
As usual, Information is Beautiful has injected some critical missing context into the national debate with a well-designed chart.
This time, it’s spending in America. Check out The Billion Dollar Gram.
+