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【社会人文】金融危机：知名人士寻短纷纷
Merckle先生。
The Human Toll
by Portfolio Staff Jan 12 2009
From a billionaire in Germany to a broker in Connecticut to fund manager in Korea, the global markets crash has been linked to a growing number of suicides.
A cluster of high-profile suicides has attracted a fair amount of attention as well as sympathy for those who have taken their lives and for those they left behind. Here's a partial list of those who either explicitly blamed economic misfortune for their deaths or whose deaths were linked to the economy by the police.
January 6, 2009
Merckle, 74, managed the fortune built by his German family.
The conglomerate, which included stakes in a pharmaceutical wholesaler, generic-drug maker, cement company, and bus manufacturer, was hit hard by Merckle's failed speculation on Volkswagen stock. He bet VW would fall, but it quadrupled in two days last October after Porsche revealed it had options to buy virtually all of the outstanding shares.
Bankers told Reuters the family lost about 400 million euros — roughly half a billion dollars at the time — on the VW bet.
January 6, 2009
Good, 52, was chief executive of Sheldon Good & Co.
His Chicago firm is one of the nation's largest real-estate auction houses. His death came amid great turmoil in the country's real estate industry. In his role as chairman of the Realtors Commercial Alliance Committee, Good commented on tough conditions last month at a business conference.
December 23, 2008
De la Villehuchet, 65, was the founder of Access International Advisors.
A French aristocrat and the former chairman and C.E.O. of Credit Lyonnais Securities USA, de la Villehuchet had invested $1.4 billion of his and his clients money with Bernard L. Madoff, who earlier in December said that his business was an enormous Ponzi fraud.
December 8, 2008
Von der Porten, 50, was managing director of Leeward Investments L.L.C.
A former Congressional staff member, Von der Porten built a wealth of experience in commercial lending, mergers and acquisitions, and leveraged buyouts while working at Bank of America. In 1997, he struck out on his own, founding his hedge fund firm San Carlos, California.
His fund, however, was not immune to the overall market meltdown, and fell more than 40 percent in 2008. His brother, Michael, told the San Francicso Chronicle that the slump was a "key part" of his suicide. "Eric cared a lot about his work and felt responsible for people who had invested with him," Michael Von der Porten said.
December 5, 2008
Widmer, 52, was chief executive of Bank Julius Baer.
The Swiss bank's stock has dropped by two-thirds in the last year, but bank officials said Widmer's death was unrelated to the business. His death came offshore private banks were under increased scrutiny over whether their secrecy helps clients to evade taxes.
November 19, 2008
Choi, 55, was chief executive of a small Korean investment firm called Saebit Asset.
He left a note: "Having been under pressure from the cash crunch since August last year from the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, I worked hard to have my investors at least recover their principal. "I feel sorry to my friends for failing to achieve that. I'd like to pay my debt back by death."
October 16, 2008
Luizzi, 44, was a floor broker at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
A former vice-president of HSBC Securities USA, Luizzi was trading for his own account when he made a series of disastrous trades on S&P 500 index futures. “He explained to his wife that he had made a substantial loss and was despondent that he could never regain that loss,” a police spokesman said. At the time of his death, Luizzi's pockets were filled with trading cards he hadn't turned in.
October 6, 2008
Rajaram, 45, was a co-founder of an internet business incubator in Los Angeles.
A former executive at PricewaterhouseCoopers who had made more than $1 million on NanoUniverse, a venture fund, Rajaram shot his three children, his wife, and his mother-in-law before taking his own life. In a note, he blamed the financial crisis.
September 25, 2008
Stephenson, 47, was chief operating officer of Olivant Ltd., a British investment firm.
As the banking crisis knocked down UBS's stock, Olivant bought 2.8 percent of the Swiss giant. It deposited the shares, worth $1 billion, with Lehman Brothers and let Lehman use them as collateral for loans. But when Lehman filed for bankruptcy in September, Olivant lost control of the stock and is unlikely to recover it.
July 28, 2008
Rachleff, 82, ran the New London, Connecticut, branch of A.G. Edwards.
Described as a pillar of his community, he grew despondent when regulators declared one of his biggest clients, the New London Security Federal Credit Union, was insolvent. Investigators are examining his ties to the credit union.
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2011-07-21 07:25
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