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money
secret tape
Before Harvey's Greed, Resentment
Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has always resented the fact that peers made more money than him with what he deemed to be inferior films. These days, he's obviously overcome this problem by milking reality shows for millions to prop up his more artsy products; but he couldn't always be so sanguine. Here we have a priceless and EXCLUSIVE classic from the archives: a recording of a phone call between Weinstein and Disney exec Joe Roth, taped shortly after Michael Ovitz—a spectacular failure as head of Disney—was paid more than $100 million to leave the company in 1996. Weinstein is galled beyond belief (and perhaps a bit envious). "Let's quit today!" he jokes. Why, he works his ass off and what does he get? A fucking lecture. "Joe, you're a success, so therefore you're a failure in this business," Weinstein complains. Then he insults his fellow moguls: "Between Peter Guber and Mike Ovitz and everybody who fucked up...Everybody got wealthy on failure." Weinstein just cares too much about the films, you see; "We have character flaws that must be overcome," he sighs. Thanks to Project Runway, he's done so. Click to listen to the titan of Hollywood in all his expletive-spitting glory.
millionaires
Bonnie Fuller Can Never Get Enough Money
Bonnie Fuller was axed last month from her job as editorial chief of American Media. But the company gave her $2.4 million in fiscal year 08, which is 50% more than even CEO David Pecker got. And AMI, which is facing some serious financial challenges of its own, was planning a $2 million severance package for her if she left by the end of March (since she didn't, they haven't revealed her actual severance—but it's surely in that ballpark). Fuller's rich, but she's still a well-known neurotic about money issues, dating back to her own mother's rough period of being broke after a divorce. Understandable—but it doesn't really give one the right to start yelling at the good people from the freaking Make-A-Wish foundation, as Fuller once famously did when she thought they were being too stingy: More »
what did you do during the war?
Without Comment
"The nude portrait was a gift from Iceland's first lady, who tells Bloomberg News she has 'yet to meet someone who does not want a naked picture of their loved ones with text about themselves.'" [Gothamist via Fleshbot]
pop economics
Candidates Reassure The Riches
This month's Fortune presents two dueling covers—John McCain and Barack Obama both promising to fix the economy. It's cute! John McCain says the greatest threat to our economy is terrorism, obviously. ("Terrorism" means "secret Muslim president.") But McCain, while he doesn't understand anything about economics, has a cunning plan to fix the current crises: allow Barack Obama to win and inherit a situation so dismal that there's next-to-nothing he can do, then allow McCain's party to reap the benefits of total collapse a few generation later. Cunning! [Animal]
Crime
The Smoking Gun has the entire criminal complaint against Anne Hathaway's ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri, the hustling con artist charged with fraud and money laundering earlier today. Much of the information came out in previous stories and investigations, but it's still pretty stunning to see the extent of the guy's fraud laid out all at once. Payoffs, luxury, deception, and a crooked reporter—all in there. And you can understand why Hathaway stayed with him so long; if your boyfriend had an unlimited pot of (other people's) money to fly you around the world with, you'd like him too:
More »
The Case Against Raffaello Follieri
The Smoking Gun has the entire criminal complaint against Anne Hathaway's ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri, the hustling con artist charged with fraud and money laundering earlier today. Much of the information came out in previous stories and investigations, but it's still pretty stunning to see the extent of the guy's fraud laid out all at once. Payoffs, luxury, deception, and a crooked reporter—all in there. And you can understand why Hathaway stayed with him so long; if your boyfriend had an unlimited pot of (other people's) money to fly you around the world with, you'd like him too:
More »
the riches
Rich People With Puzzle-House to Become Rich People With Puzzle-Movie
Remember that magical mystery puzzle-house that the New York Times wrote about a while back? Basically these crazy rich people hired a designer named Eric Clough to "do" their new Fifth Avenue apartment and, as a fun thing for the crazy rich people and their kids, he turned the whole house into a scavenger hunt/puzzle kind of thing. Hidden clues and compartments and messages and all that. It's a pretty cool story! So cool, in fact, that J.J. Abrams, the man behind Felicity, Alias, and sort-of Lost, is producing a movie based on the Times piece. How fun for the crazy rich people. Not only do they get to live in a whimsical puzzle-mansion on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, they get to have a movie made about them too! Of course there will be a more magical element to the movie than the non-fiction Times article, with doors leading to other realms and whatnot. Because that's never been done before! Other fantasy elements in the movie will include the kids growing up to not be spoiled little shits and the puzzle-house, with all its secret compartments, not becoming a frustrating nuisance a few months after the puzzle has been solved. More »
the rich
Money Doesn't Matter, Billionaire Oprah Tells College Grads
Talk-show host and self-made billionaire Oprah Winfrey was the commencement speaker for Stanford grads this past weekend. Her advice for the new grads? Do what you're meant to do! "When you're doing the work you were meant to do, it feels right. And every day is a bonus, regardless of what you're getting paid." Easy for her to say. Following your dreams! It's a great prescription for poverty. (As if every talented person who followed them ended up rich!) More »
media barons
Jared Kushner: "Real estate is like porn for rich people."
Former Daily News gossip hack Lloyd Grove has a lengthy interview with New York Observer owner and golden-boy-about town Jared Kushner out today, in which the 27-year-old Kushner yacks and yacks about his real estate holdings, his media holdings, and how the Observer's revenues are way up this year (although it's doubtful the paper has made him money yet). He's guarded, and talks a lot like a PR person. But one thing comes through quite clearly, just by his use of examples: this is a rich, rich young man. And maybe done dating Ivanka Trump? He won't say. Still, the time to snag this wealthy media baron is now!: More »
marketing
Brothels Offer Barbecue, Billboards, Beans (And Hookers)
These high gas prices are an absolute killer for the legalized sex trade. Truckers who enjoy paying for sex with hookers at isolated Nevada brothels have a lot less disposable income these days, so those brothels are being forced to do what once was unnecessary: marketing. Sex with anonymous prostitutes just doesn't sell itself these days! So the pimps, or whatever the legitimate business equivalent is called, are getting creative: not just billboards, but barbecue, beans, and trucker loyalty (to hookers) programs:More »
economics
The Rich: Recession's Whiniest Victims
What with the nation struggling under soaring gas prices, foreclosures, and general tedious suffering, The New York Times' Sunday Styles section naturally wants to know how Manhattan's filthy rich are coping with the recession. "NANCY CHEMTOB, a divorce lawyer in Manhattan, has found that her days have become crammed seeing clients, all worried about how an economic downturn will affect their marriages.But Ms. Chemtob’s clients are concerned all the same, she said, because their incomes have shrunk, say, to $2 million a year from $8 million, and they know that their 2008 bonus checks are likely to be much less impressive. One of her clients recently confessed that his net worth had decreased to $8 million from more than $20 million, and he thinks that his wife will leave him. He has hidden their fall in fortune by taking on debt to pay for her extravagant clothes and vacations." More »
personal ads
Cash-Waving Craigslist Player's Fury: 'These Photos Are Mines'
Moral of this story: if you're digging yourself into a hole, stop digging. Yesterday, we got a tip about a self-described "Mr. Right" on NYC's Craigslist, who posted a personal ad with 30 pictures of himself, several of which feature him waving a stack of $20 bills. We put up a few of his photos and chuckled. But he was upset! So he called up the Gawker offices to voice his grievances. He charged us with fraud. He threatened to "punch the fucking guy whoever did this" and "fuck him up." And he warned us, "I'm ten times smarter than these people, cause I"m gonna record it right now." So are we! You have to hear it to believe it. Remember, kids: Craigslist is a public place. Click to listen to the highlights. (To refresh your memory, three of his moneymaking personal ad photos are below): More »
love connection
Mr. Right Iz Here, Ladies
Your search is over, ladies: "Mr. Right Iz Here Waitin on U." On Craigslist! His straightforward message: "Listen If U Really Wanna Get 2 Know Me Just Send Me A Note." Simple, honest, persuasive... and right. And he included a total of 30 pictures with his one-sentence pitch. Including a few unrelated wedding pictures that don't even appear to have him in it. But this handful should be enough to give you the essence of what your new man is all about: More »
advertising
Brazilian Paper Hates Money, America
A Brazilian newspaper is running a series of ads with the slogan "Understand the real value of money." So what's the real value of a dollar? Apparently it's terrorism, pollution, the Challenger disaster, war, and tornadoes. Oh, and weed. They didn't forget the weed. I won't pretend to be able to identify the underlying philosophy here, but I will point out that even dumb people have figured out that using 9/11 in ads is a bad idea. The takeaway: Give all your dollars to me. Below, the full ad from the Brasilmofascist menace: More »
billionaire pervs
Who Keeps Inviting Jeffrey Epstein Out
Billionaire sex-perv Jeffrey Epstein enjoys sex with underage girls, that much we know. But before we all knew this, he was a very popular financier with many important and famous friends. He went to a lot of parties! He flew Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey, and Chris Tucker to Africa for some reason! We can only imagine what the on-flight entertainment was. Now he's apparently getting ready to plea guilty to all sorts of things involving prostitution, and some ladies are suing him for making them his sex slaves when they were underage, so he doesn't quite go out on the town that much. Except sometimes he does! And, to answer our own question, it's because uber-publicist Peggy Siegal is still happy to stand by her 14-year-old raping friend Jeffrey. More »
Upheaval at 'Fortune'
An emailer: "15 people are to be let go at Fortune mag; about 8 through buyouts." Also, "[Money executive editor] Craig Matters left to run Fortune.com, the two deputy MEs were promoted to co-ExecEd's (yes, that is a bit bizarre and not so workable) and the photo editor Jane Clark was fired Friday. Mg. Ed. Eric Schurenberg also just lost superstar Jason Zweig and another editor (Cybele Weisser) to the WSJ. Craig was in charge of the Best Places to Live uber-franchise and many writers at the mag have said they'd bolt if Craig left." Folio confirms all this besides the Jane Clark firing. Anyone else have more details?
anger
Harvey Weinstein Threatens to Destroy Democratic Party Unless His Gal Hil Wins
Hollywood strongman Harvey Weinstein is a big supporter of Hillary Clinton, because they share a similar megalomania. Weinstein, who throws a great deal of showbiz money at Democrats and who is known for his Hulk-esque temper, reportedly called up House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last month to threaten her unless the Dems handed his gal Hillary the nomination. Weinstein said he'd cut of all money to Dem congressional campaigns unless Pelosi backed the Clinton campaign's unfeasible plan to get the Dems to pay for brand new elections in Florida and Michigan. Weinsein has denied it all. Or at least he denied that it was a "threat." He owns up to calling Pelosi and "offering" "to put together a team of people to help finance a revote in Florida and Michigan." Then he threatened to eat the officials who leaked details of the call. Weinsein's owned up to a bad temper before, once telling Ken Auletta that it's the thing he dislikes most about himself. In fact, Weinstein's temper makes Weinstein so angry he feels like he's going to explode. An Entourage clip exploring this famous bad mood in a comedic style may be found after the jump. More »
payback
