How many billionaires have to die?

[Username]

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Reuters

Rockefeller & Co's CEO committed suicide: report
Tue Sep 15, 2009

(Reuters) - James McDonald, chief executive officer of investment management firm Rockefeller & Co, committed suicide on Sunday in Massachusetts, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

According to the paper, Barclay McFadden, who identified himself as a friend of McDonald's family, said James McDonald "took his own life." McDonald was also a board member of NYSE Euronext.

No one at Rockefeller & Co was immediately available for comment.

The paper said McDonald is believed to have died in New Bedford but the circumstances surrounding his death were unclear.

Rockefeller & Co's chief operating officer and chief financial officer, Austin Shapard, has assumed day-to-day leadership of the investment firm, the Journal said, citing company spokesman Joseph Kuo.

The firm, which started off as a New York family office established by John D. Rockefeller, was incorporated in 1979 and became an investment adviser in 1980, according to the company's website.

(Reporting by Santosh Nadgir in Bangalore; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
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LA Times

Newport Beach financier Danny Pang dies at 42
September 12, 2009



Newport Beach financier Danny Pang died early Saturday at a local hospital, according to the Orange County coroner’s office. The cause of death has not been determined and an autopsy is planned for Sunday, said Larry Esslinger, supervising deputy coroner.

Police officers were dispatched to Pang’s home in the 2600 block of Crestview Drive about 3:30 p.m. Friday on a “medical assistance call,” said Sgt. Doug Jones of the Newport Beach Police Department.

Pang was pronounced dead at Hoag Memorial Hospital at 5:12 a.m. Saturday, Esslinger said. He had no further details.

The 42-year-old Pang has been accused by the government of operating a Ponzi scheme and of taking at least $83 million in inflated fees, salary and loans from his investment firm before it was seized by federal regulators in April. He had denied wrongdoing.

[Updated, 3:40 p.m.: Esslinger said no further investigation is planned.

In a statement, Charles Sipkins, a spokesman for Pang, said, “Our entire family is shocked by Danny’s sudden and tragic passing. Danny was a wonderful husband, loving father, and an honest businessman.

“For the past five months, Danny was subjected to a relentless attack of innuendo and false allegations,” he added, “and was denied the opportunity to defend himself.”

Pang’s notoriety in the financial world began its steep descent earlier this year.

A federal criminal indictment in July accused Pang of structuring hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash transactions in 2007 to avoid scrutiny from the government. He had pleaded not guilty. Those charges were similar to allegations that federal prosecutors filed against Pang in April.

The indictment came as Pang faced a civil lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission accusing him of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from investors -- primarily Taiwanese banks -- through his Irvine-based Private Equity Management Group.

Pang first made headlines in 1997 when his 33-year-old wife, a former stripper named Janie, was shot to death in the couple’s Villa Park home.

Pang denied involvement in his wife’s murder and was never charged. Pang’s attorney, Hugh “Randy” McDonald, was charged in the slaying.

Orange County prosecutors accused McDonald of killing Janie Pang, staging a fake suicide from the Golden Gate Bridge and then going into hiding. A jury was unable to reach a verdict, and prosecutors elected not to pursue a second trial.

Sipkins, in commenting on Pang’s protracted legal problems said: “It is distressing that Danny had to endure such a mean-spirited assault on his character and reputation, and the seizure of all this property without ever having been found liable of anything and without ever having a chance to defend himself." ]

-- Ruben Vives and Louis Sahagun
_______

Inquisitr

Financier Finn Casperson dead in apparent suicide
September 9, 2009



Ex-CEO of Beneficial Corp. Finn H.W. Casperson was found dead in an apparent suicide behind an office building in Westerly, Rhode Island.

Casperson, 67, was discovered dead of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound on September 7th, after police were asked to “check on” him. Casperson came from a wealthy family and moved with powerful people, and he was known for his political influence, fundraising and philanthropy.

Family members, including his son, Bedminster Township Committeeman Finn M.W. Caspersen Jr., declined to comment on the death of Casperson, Sr. or the circumstances surrounding his demise. In addition to philanthropic ventures, Casperson was an accomplished equestrian, and fellow movers and shakers have commented to press on his legacy:

“Finn was always a gentleman and always made his resources available,” said Rhode Island state Senator Dennis Algiere, who represents the seaside region, just across the state line from Connecticut. “He was a very charitable individual. He donated a lot of time and money to various organizations in our community over the years.”

“I don’t think you could find someone more philanthropic or caring,” said Tucker Johnson, an equestrian and a friend of Caspersen’s, according to a statement on an equestrian Web site.

[Source: Bloomberg]
_______

CNN

Dying Blagojevich fundraiser said he overdosed, mayor says
September 14, 2009



CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Police are investigating the death of the former chief fundraiser for ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich as a "death-suicide," an Illinois mayor said Sunday.

Christopher Kelly, 51, was former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's chief fundraiser.

Financier Christopher Kelly told police shortly before he died Saturday that he took an "overdose of drugs," said Dwight Welch, mayor of Country Club Hills, Illinois.

Country Club Hills police found several drugs in Kelly's black 2007 Cadillac Escalade, but they were not sure yet whether they were prescribed, Welch said. Country Club Hills is about 27 miles south of Chicago.

Kelly had recently undergone surgery and was taking drugs following the operation, Welch said. Welch said he did not know which drugs Kelly was taking.

Kelly, 51, of Burr Ridge, Illinois, was pronounced dead at Stroger hospital in Cook County at 10:46 a.m. Saturday, hospital spokesman Marcel Bright told CNN.

Autopsy results were expected Sunday afternoon, Welch said. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office did not comment on the results, but said that a ruling on Kelly's death was "pending further studies."

Toxicology results won't be available for "some time," Welch said.

Blagojevich blamed the government for Kelly's death.

"I don't know any more than you know, except that a friend of mine took his life because he refused to submit to the pressure by the government to lie about me," Blagojevich told CNN. "And to think that it comes to something like that begs a lot of questions."

Blagojevich said his statement that Kelly "took his life" was based on what he had read in news reports.

Earlier this year, Blagojevich, who was impeached and removed from office, pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges.

A federal grand jury in April indicted him on 16 felony counts, including racketeering, conspiracy, wire fraud and making false statements to investigators. The indictment also named Kelly.

On Tuesday in a separate case, Kelly pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud "in a kickback scheme to bring in $8.5 million in business at O'Hare International Airport to his roofing company," the Chicago Tribune reported on its Web site Sunday. Kelly was to begin a prison sentence this week, the Tribune reported.

Kelly was transferred to Stroger hospital after first receiving care at Oak Forest Hospital, near Country Club Hills, where police spoke to him at about 3:30 a.m. CT Saturday, Welch said. Police described Kelly as being "very hesitant, very ill" during that interview, Welch said.

As part of their investigation, police want to talk further with Kelly's girlfriend, Clarissa Flores-Buhelos, Welch said at a news conference Sunday. Kelly and Flores-Buhelos, 30, communicated via text messages before she drove from Chicago to pick him up, Welch said. She found him ill and drove him in his car to Oak Forest Hospital, he said.

She told police that Kelly had attempted suicide, Welch said.

But since then, Flores-Buhelos has retained a lawyer and is not talking to police, Welch said. Police plan to use the text messages and the GPS device in Kelly's car to determine where the two were prior to arriving at the hospital.

Police also want to talk to a man who came to Oak Forest Hospital to pick up Kelly's car, Welch said. He has keys to the vehicle but the car has been confiscated by the police as evidence, Welch said.

Chicago police and the FBI are also involved in the investigation, Welch said.

CNN's Jesse Solomon and Justin Lear contributed to this report.
~

[JackRiddler]

http://rigorousintuition.ca/board/viewtopic.php?t=25595

Police: Madoff associate Jeffry Picower dies at 67

AP) – 15 minutes ago

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Jeffry Picower, a Florida philanthropist alleged to have extracted billions from Bernard Madoff's investment scheme, drowned in his pool Sunday, police said. He was 67.

The former New York lawyer and accountant had been a friend of Madoff for decades.

A statement from Palm Beach police said Picower's wife and a maid found the body at the bottom of the pool Sunday afternoon and rescue workers could not revive him. Picower was transported to Good Samaritan Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at about 1:30 p.m.

Police are investigating the death, as is standard for any drowning, the statement said. Detectives were still at the home Sunday afternoon.

Joseph Sekula, spokesman for the Palm Beach Fire Department, said a 911 call came in at about noon about a possible drowning at Picower's oceanside home. As rescuers reached the back of the house, they found Picower lying by the edge of the pool, Sekula said. Picower's wife and housekeeper had pulled him from the water, he added.

"He was pulseless upon arrival of crews so they started CPR immediately," Sekula said. Rescuers worked on Picower for about 20 minutes trying to revive him before transporting him to Good Samaritan in nearby West Palm Beach.

Sekula said Picower's pulse returned as he was brought into the emergency room, but authorities said he died a short time later at the hospital.

Sekula said Picower's body showed no visible injuries.

"There wasn't anything noted as far as trauma or anything to the body," he said.

An operator at Good Samaritan said the hospital wouldn't be making any statements.

In the initial aftermath of the Madoff scandal in December 2008, the foundation Picower and his wife started in 1989 said it would have to cease grant-making and would be forced to close. The Picower Foundation had given millions to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Human Rights First and the New York Public Library. It also funded diabetes research at Harvard Medical School. The foundation, whose assets were managed by Madoff, said in its 2007 tax return its investment portfolio was valued at nearly $1 billion.

But Picower was later sued by the trustee recovering Bernard Madoff's assets for jilted investors. Irving Picard labeled the Florida philanthropist as the biggest beneficiary of Madoff's multibillion-dollar fraud and demanded he return more than $7 billion in bogus profits.

In court filings, Picard's lawyers have said Picower's claims that he was a victim "ring hollow" since Picower withdrew more of other investors' money than anyone else during three decades of investing with Madoff and should have noticed signs of fraud.

According to the lawyers, Picower's accounts were "riddled with blatant and obvious fraud," and he should have recognized that since he was a sophisticated investor.

Picower had asked that the lawsuit be dismissed, saying it is unsupported by the facts. Messages left for Picower's lawyer, William Zabel, and his wife's attorney, Marcy Harris, weren't immediately returned Sunday.

Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence after he admitted losing billions of dollars for thousands of clients over a half-century career that saw him rise to be a Nasdaq chairman.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... QD9BIBKF00


Madoff Client Jeffry Picower Netted $5 Billion—Likely More Than Madoff Himself

'Professional' hit sure seems likely -- I can well imagine the motive and means of someone losing several tens-of-millions (or more) to Madoff, to 'send a message' re: their ire over a probable accomplice like Picower
who not only HAD to know Madoff was up to no-good, but may even have assisted or at least encouraged him.

Yet another teaser glimpse into an over-the-top fraud. Picower seems to have disbursed, frittered-away or otherwise disappeared even more loot than Madoff did, but to WHO? Is it possible that Picower might have been directing Madoff from a distance? Surely Madoff bent over backwards to accomodate Picower's requests for fantastically-lucrative back-dated 'profits'.

It's quite evident that Picower was a partner with Madoff in knowing and covering-up Madoff's fraud, if not actually colluding with him and sharing his loot-washing expertise, as evidenced by the record of simply inexplicable financial letters and filings that scream 'PHONEY!'

It makes me wonder how much more outrageous fraud is still hidden and covered-up by perps and their defacto enablers thruout the financial industry, even beyond major banks reliance on billions in illicit drug profits to cover their bad bets and the bailout scam worked by well-placed insiders salted among lawmakers and 'regulators', essentially insuring the big boys a non-competative can't fail/win-win advantage no matter WHAT they do.

Below, partial excerpt of the June 28 propublica article feature detailing Picower's escapades as the biigest beneficiary of Madoff's ponzi-scam;

http://www.propublica.org/feature/madof ... -5-billion

"Madoff Client Picowar Netted $5 Billion -- Likely More Than Madoff Himself"

--quote--
It is rare these days to see Bernard Madoff's name in print unaccompanied by the word "Ponzi." Yet recent allegations raise the possibility of one key difference between Madoff's crimes and those of legendary con artist Charles Ponzi. While Ponzi's scam was under way, Ponzi himself was its biggest beneficiary. It now appears that the biggest winner in Madoff's scheme may not have been Madoff at all, but a secretive businessman named Jeffry Picower.

Between December 1995 and December 2008, Picower and his family withdrew from their various Madoff accounts $5.1 billion more than they invested with the self-confessed swindler, according to a lawsuit [2] filed by the trustee who is trying to recover money for those Madoff defrauded.

In contrast, shortly after he confessed [3], Madoff declared his household net worth to be between $823 and $826 million, according to court documents. While the Madoffs clearly lived opulently, no evidence has emerged that their combined assets and expenditures approached the amount the Picower family is alleged to have withdrawn from the scheme.

In an era when billions of dollars are being tossed about in financial collapses and government bailouts, remarkably little attention has been paid to Jeffry Picower's extraordinary success with Bernie Madoff. If Picower has penetrated the popular consciousness at all, it is as a Madoff victim. The victim narrative is buoyed by testimonials from the nonprofits who received funding from his charitable foundation – which quickly closed on the heels of the swindler's confession. For this reason, ProPublica decided to take a closer look at both Jeffry Picower and the complaint filed against him by Madoff trustee Irving Picard [4].

Fortunately for the trustee and the federal investigators presently swarming over the case, Madoff apparently kept detailed notes of communications between his office and his clients. But despite this documentary evidence, which is cited but not provided in court documents, Picard's complaint raises more questions than it answers. Above all, what was the exact relationship between the two men? The complaint [2] is larded with the legal catch-all phrase, "knew or should have known," to describe Picower's cognizance of Madoff's fraud, but the intricacies of the relationship are left to the imagination.



The Picowers' withdrawals from Madoff accounts peaked at over $1 billion in 2003. Click to see full chart. [5]The complaint states that the Picowers were beneficiaries of the Ponzi scheme for more than 20 years. The withdrawals listed between 1995 and 2008 reveal a pattern of large quarterly disbursements, transferred to Picower-controlled accounts by check or sometimes wire, that peak in 2003. Three years later something happens that causes the amount to drop precipitously. It recovers slightly the following year, but the highest-flying days are over for good.

One question is the role that Picower's charitable giving played in all of this. The amount Picower withdrew for his foundation is separate from the quarterly withdrawals for his personal accounts. During the 1995-2008 time span, Picower took out about $291 million from Madoff for the foundation account. During the same period, the foundation doled out more than $235 million in donations, according to tax forms.

Perhaps the most pertinent question: If Picower withdrew $5.1 billion in "profit" from Madoff, where did all the money go? The Picowers own a home in Palm Beach that is appraised at a little over $28 million. They also have a 28.4-acre compound in Connecticut valued at $4.5 million. A search of numerous online sources, both aggregate databases and county property records for the couple, their daughter, and the companies named in the complaint, reveals few other major assets. If someone needed the skills to hide billions of dollars, few would be better equipped than Picower, an attorney and accountant who has been described as a "tax shelter expert." Even so, it's curious our search did not even uncover a boat or plane under the Picower name.

Messages left for Picower and his wife Barbara requesting comment for this story were not returned. Their lawyer, William Zabel, declined to comment to ProPublica on the Madoff matter. Earlier, Zabel told The Wall Street Journal that the couple "were in no way complicit in" Madoff's scheme.

Emailed questions to David Sheehan, an attorney at Baker & Hostetler who is working alongside Picard on the case, went unanswered.

Picower, 67, began his career as an accountant and lawyer in New York but seems to have made much of his fortune as an investor in the medical industry. He has avoided media interviews and, with a few notable exceptions, succeeded in keeping a low profile. If the Picowers were recognized at all, prior to their Madoff notoriety, it was through praise for their philanthropy. Yet even here, their ties to Madoff loomed large. The growth of their largest foundation was attributed to their Madoff investments. Madoff himself served as a trustee on another Picower foundation.

The court-appointed trustee makes a powerful, albeit still largely circumstantial, case in court filings that Picower knew Madoff's fund was illegitimate. Although Madoff ostensibly produced eerily consistent 10-12 percent annual returns for his clients, the returns he provided Picower were other worldly:

In 14 instances between 1996 and 2007, a group of Picower trading accounts experienced annual returns of more than 100 percent. On 25 occasions, the annual return exceeded 50 percent. During this same period, the biggest annual gain in either the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the S&P 500 was 31 percent, for the S&P in 1997. The S&P 500's annual average for that period was slightly under 9 percent.

The annual rate of return for two of Picower's regular trading accounts in the four years between 1996 and 1999 ranged from about 120 percent to more than 550 percent annually.

In 1999, one account earned 950 percent.


Each quarter, the Picowers would withdraw various sums from Madoff from different accounts. Usually the total for each quarter’s withdrawals amounted to round numbers. Click to see the full listing of the Picowers' withdrawals from Madoff accounts. [5]Picower belonged to a select group of Madoff investors who received souped-up returns. A Wall Street Journal story [6] published in May cited unnamed sources saying that prosecutors were looking into eight investors who appear to have received special treatment from Madoff. Among the eight named, Picower seems to have withdrawn the most money, with the bulk of it coming from an account called "Decisions, Inc." According to the Madoff trustee's court filings, "the account reflected little trading activity and relatively few holdings," yet Picower took hundreds of millions out of it. At the time of Madoff's arrest, the account had a reported negative net cash balance of more than $6 billion.

At the beginning of each quarter, the Picowers received sums that grew from an annual total of $330 million in 1996 to $1 billion in 2003. These withdrawals were divided into odd numbers spread over various accounts.

Added together, they usually equaled large even sums. For example, on January 2, 2003, Picower withdrew $1,378,852 from his account Jln Partnership. Yet when withdrawals across all accounts were totaled for that day, they amounted to precisely $250 million.

Picower's quarterly withdrawals reached their zenith in 2003 and then decreased by half the next year, eventually dropping to their lowest point in 2006. For some reason, the quarterly withdrawals totaled an uneven $16,975,422 in 2006, only to rebound to exactly $40 million in 2007.

Picower's extraordinary gains do not appear to have been achieved at random. The trustee's complaint details how Picower, often acting through a subordinate, ordered up "returns" which Madoff's office then delivered. In some cases, Picower is alleged to have requested backdated returns for trades or sales of securities.

On April 18, 2006, Picower wired $125 million to Madoff to open a new account. Madoff's office began "purchasing" securities in the account, but "it backdated the vast majority of these purported transactions to January 2006" when the stock market was at its lowest for the period, according to the complaint. Twelve days later, the net equity value of the account was $164 million, a gain of $39 million – or more than 30 percent – in less than two weeks.

The complaint details conversations between Picower associate April Freilich and Madoff's office beginning around May 14, 2007, when Freilich stated that the Picower Foundation needed gains during January and February of 2006, a year earlier.

On May 18, Freilich specified that the foundation needed "$20 mil in gains" and "want[ed] 18% for year[] 08 appreciation" for January and February of that year. Five days later, Freilich changed the amount to $12.3 million. Subsequent statements reflected gains of $12.6 million.

On December 22, 2005, Picower or Freilich allegedly faxed a letter to Madoff dated December 1, directing him to sell specific holdings. The statement for that month reflects that the sales were finalized on December 2, a process that typically takes three days. The clues that the letter was back-dated: A fax with the tell-tale December 22 date and an attached portfolio appraisal dated December 16 that included the positions that were supposedly "sold."

On or around December 29, 2005, Freilich allegedly faxed a letter to Madoff asking for $50 million in gains across certain accounts. Subsequent statements generated by Madoff for the accounts show stock sales, presumably to satisfy the request, that were supposedly recorded around December 8 and 9, 2005, approximately three weeks prior to Freilich's letter.

--end quote--
(more at link)

[monster]

Funniest thread title ever.

[Nordic]

Something that's occurred to me lately: Do we really need billionaires?

If so, why?

Why isn't being a multimilllionaire enough?

[Jeff]

Thanks for adding Picower, Jack. I looked but couldn't find this thread.

[anothershamus]

I know, I know, it's from Rense.com, but you have to admit that swimming pools are very dangerous to wealthy people,

hey didn't one of William Shatners wives die in a swimming pool?

And this is pretty old, 2007 but hey!

http://www.rys2sense.com/anti-neocons/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=10332

Seth Tobias, Hedge-Fund Boss and TV Commentator was found dead in his pool.
-Sep 4th

And now this

Quote:
Oleg Zhukovsky Banker found dead in his swimming pool near Moscow
-Dec 7

A dead banker and a Hedge fund boss and a finance politician all dead, and two of them ended up in swimming pools. Oleg's death is the most shocking to me because of this:

Quote:
The paper said investigators found evidence that the house, in the elite Lesnaya Opushka community in the Odintsovo District, to the west of the capital, had been broken into, and that a plastic bag had been put over Zhukovsky's head. The banker was known to have heart trouble, and may have died while being tortured, investigators said.

However, a high-ranking investigation source told RIA Novosti that suicide was still being considered as a possible cause of death
WTF?

All the dots may connect under the umbrella of two Israeli passport carrying Russian Oligarchs.

Look at what Deripaska and Potanin did today just one day after this obvious murder. If you remember I reported the RUSAL merger with Glencore Rich (formerly called Marc Rich Inc) and Rich's good buddy Oleg Deripraska and Victor Vekselberg.

[cptmarginal]

Michael McGurk seems to belong on this thread...

See also: http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board/v ... hp?t=25084

[Penguin]

Something that's occurred to me lately: Do we really need billionaires?

If so, why?

Why isn't being a multimilllionaire enough?

Why would we need even millionaires? Isnt a roof above your head, warmth, company and fellowship, clean water and food enough? Throw in education and access to healthcare for free in the mix, and what more could anyone want?
(supposing that this situation would include freedom of thought and religion, including the kind where you are the only member of it)

[exojuridik]

Why would we need even millionaires? Isnt a roof above your head, warmth, company and fellowship, clean water and food enough? Throw in education and access to healthcare for free in the mix, and what more could anyone want?
(supposing that this situation would include freedom of thought and religion, including the kind where you are the only member of it)

Hey, hey now lets not go totally commie-pinko. Over here in America, we are a nation of winners (does any other nation chant "we're #1"?) and that means the strong and competitive need to get all they can in order to win. and the losers can sit and watch but we aren't about to give them the satisfaction of providing for their basic needs. That would give people incentives to be a loser. Why would people do anything without the mortal existential fear of being poor in america. Additionally, the entire system would collapse without millionaires trying to be multi-millionaires, who in turn, are sacrificing their existence trying to be billionaires, Seriously, what would people do in the place of clawing and striving for ever more material acquisition? God, the very thought gives me the willies. I now understand why we persecute subversives - the very idea of being content with the basics is an invidious anti-morale weapon.

As for a "religion of one," I think the clinical definition is "psychosis" or "bipolar with delusional thought disorder." Whatever it is we have medication for that.

[blonderengel]

On December 22nd 2012, an intense burst of cosmic energy from the centre of the galaxy will meld the minds of 8,000,000,000 Earthlings into a single spiritualised superintelligence, the noosphere, which will instantly become conscious of itself, and say: "Stuff this for a lark, let's arrest the billionaires."

I don't know about the date or the number, but this I do: we are presently building the internet of things (coming on the heels of the internet of data)--i.e. making things responsive and measurable via devices located externally.

The Neural Net (NN) is not so much a dream a long time off as it is a storage/logistics problem, solved in a few years.

Then we can or are forced to (for money or something similar) "jack into" the experience of the hive mind.

Read something scary:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/789108.html

Ballmer actually lets you look at his hand: "... a big part of the future of computing is in determining users' intent." If the machine can do that, what's to separate it from us?

Then it's a bunnyhop to NN, external, yes, like the exoskeleton, but so what?

Hivemind achieved! Call it singularity, idocracy, progress.

http://www.wethepeoplewillnotbechipped. ... dmore=3422

There are millions of those ideas.

And, yes, I was one of the people having awful dreams a month before 9/11--some so realistic, I didn't fly for over a year.

[anothershamus]

from Cryptogon.com:

The chief executive of Leader Capital Markets, one of Israel’s top investment banks, has committed suicide, a company spokeswoman said on Sunday.

Danny Barak, 48, jumped from his office on the 17th floor of one of Tel Aviv’s most prominent office towers on Friday, the spokeswoman said.

Barak, who is survived by his wife and four children, did not leave a note explaining his suicide.

“It is a mystery,” the spokeswoman said.

So here is another one, I don't know if he was a billionaire but I think it fits the bill. The questions are: What did he think was so bad that he had to off himself? Does he see the whole world of finance unraveling, or is he just a loser broke guy now and couldn't take the shame, or did he know something and the mossad threw him off the roof?

[JackRiddler]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... l-hit.html

France
Billionaire French hotelier shot dead 'in professional hit'
A billionaire French hotelier has been shot dead in a wealthy Paris suburb in what police believe was a professional hit.

By Peter Allen in Paris

2:30PM BST 26 Oct 2011

The lifeless body of Claude Dray, 76, was found with three bullet holes in the neck in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the Paris suburb where President Nicolas Sarkozy built his career and still owns property.

A butler found Dray's corpse at 9am on Tuesday following a death that had all the hallmarks of a professional hit.

Dray, one of the most prominent Jews in France, had been the subject of threats in the past. His palatial villa – which was called Madrid – was considered one of the most secure in the French capital.

It was regularly surrounded by police and private security guards, and is equipped with anti-intruder measures including cameras and infra-red alarms.

"Somebody got in and fired three bullets into the victim's neck," said one detective at the scene who asked not to be named, adding that a silencer had likely been used as domestic staff heard nothing.

Dray's wife, Simone, was in the US, where four years ago he bought the famous art deco National Hotel in South Beach, Miami.

Dray also owned the Hotel de Paris in St Tropez, one of the most popular celebrity institutions on the French Riviera.

The couple were also prolific art dealers, selling their entire collection – including works by Niki de Saint Phalle and Botero – for up to £100 million in 2007.

They were the subject of extortion threats as recently as 2009, with Paris Prosecutor's Office opening an inquiry.

Dray was a self-made man, who was born and brought up in Oran, Algeria, before founding the Cidotel hotel chain in the 1960s.

Mr Sarkozy was the mayor of Neuilly for many years, and built up close friendships with its super-rich residents, who, along with Dray included Liliane Bettencourt, the L'Oreal heiress who is France's wealthiest woman.

Mr Sarkozy has lived in Neuilly for most of his life. He still owns flats there, but now divides his time between his quarters at the Elysee Palace and a town house belonging to his third wife, the Italian heiress Carla Bruni.

[JackRiddler]

Help is at hand, vigilant. On December 22nd 2012, an intense burst of cosmic energy from the centre of the galaxy will meld the minds of 8,000,000,000 Earthlings into a single spiritualised superintelligence, the noosphere, which will instantly become conscious of itself, and say: "Stuff this for a lark, let's arrest the billionaires."

It's all taken care of, so there's no need to start organising or anything. Best of all, even the billionaires will see the wisdom of it.

It worked! Awesome!

[crikkett]

All of them have to die. So do you and I. (Everyone except the transhumanists planning to be immortals, who are already dead and don't know it.)
.

positively lyrical.

[JackRiddler]

All of them have to die. So do you and I. (Everyone except the transhumanists planning to be immortals, who are already dead and don't know it.)
.

positively lyrical.

Thx. Golly, that's some avatar you got there.