The revelations about Eliot Spitzer's illegal dalliances with a high-priced prostitute have got plenty of his former targets coming out of the woodwork to wish him, er, not well. Last night CNBC found ex-NYSE director Ken Langone — a former Spitz target in the matter of Dick Grasso's giant pay package, for which Spitzer blamed Langone for greasing it through and Langone vowed eternal enmity on Spitzer — and got a few of his thoughts on the matter. The interview aired this morning on Squawk Box, and it's a doozy — not only does Langone call Spitzer a "hypocrite" who "destroyed reputations" and should resign, but he also claims to know someone who stood behind Spitzer in line at the post office and saw him purchase $2,800 worth of mail orders (for purposes unknown, obviously, but Langone has an idea). Interview below:
CNBC: Do you think that he should resign?
KEN LANGONE: Absolutely.
CNBC: Tell me why?
LANGONE: Because he's a hypocrite. He destroyed reputations of people who had good reputations and deserved reputations. He talked today about his standards - but what he didn't talk about was the standards that he held everybody else to that he couldn't keep. So how do I feel? I certainly feel sorry for his daughters, very much so. I don't know his wife, but I have to assume she has some idea of this happening. For him? It couldn't be enough to please me. What he's done to people, not me, I'm standing, thank God, but the number of people that he besmirched, the number of people whose reputations were earned that he soiled is horrible.
CNBC: Would you say that you were surprised by this news?
LANGONE: Not at all. I had no doubt about his lack of character and integrity. It would only be a matter of time, I didn't think he would do it this soon or the way he did it. But I know for sure he went himself to a post office and bought $2,800 worth of mail orders to send to the hooker.
CNBC: How do you know that?
LANGONE: I know it. I know somebody who was standing in back of him in line....We all have our own private hells. I hope his private hell is hotter than anybody else's.
Update: Here's the video:
Related:
Target: Spitzer [NYmag]
(it calls Langone an "extremely angry billionaire bent on revenge")