Eliot Spitzer Shops Plan To Start Vulture Fund

NY Sun:

Eliot Spitzer, in his first big business venture since he was shamed out of office by a prostitution scandal, is shopping around a plan to start a vulture fund that would scoop up distressed real estate assets around the country, revamp them, and flip the properties for a profit.

Late last month, the former governor of New York gathered a group of high-level Washington, D.C.-based labor union officials in a conference room at the headquarters of his father's real estate business in Manhattan and pitched them his idea for starting such a fund, a source said.

During the meeting, Mr. Spitzer expressed relief that he was no longer burdened with the frustrations of being governor, according to the source. And, in contrast to his repentant resignation speech that he delivered beside his tearful wife, Silda Wall, he took a more relaxed view of his indiscretions.

He has told friends and associates that he is consoled by passersby who stop him on the city sidewalks and tell him that sex is "no big deal" and that the disclosure that he frequented prostitutes was distorted out of proportion, the source said. Europeans, the former governor has noted, have been especially supportive of him and perplexed by the fallout from the scandal.

In the half-hour meeting, Mr. Spitzer told the officials that he was determined to take his ailing father's real estate company to "the next level," the source said. Mr. Spitzer said he would lay out his business plan in greater detail at a later date, and would ask the labor officials to consider investing pension fund money under their control.

Read the whole story: NY Sun

Comments

[GeoNorth]

I'm a DJ. I want to thank Eliot Spitzer for the subject matter, all of it. This is too easy. It's almost like shooting a mafioso in a clam bar.

[Tommygun264]

Guess he figures there's no longer any use in pretense. The man has no soul.

[Marrigan]

Wasn't there a Sopranos episode about this kind of thing? Don't expect Eliot and any pals he can line up to be true venture capitalists. A snake like him will find a way to tap into govt. grants and try to portray himself as altruistic.

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

Appalachia part of New York could use your help former Gov

[NABNYC]

The Bush regime has looted the U.S. treasury, run up debt, and will leave the federal government unable to fund or provide basic social services for our people: schools, roads, bridges, healthcare, senior aid. That was intentional.

At the same time, they have used the federal resources to encourage private business insiders to commit fraud on the public, loot the businesses, accumulate billions in private wealth, all while enjoying immunity from their consequences due to a corrupt attorney general's office that would never go after anyone except possibly a grown-up getting a blow-job.

And now Spitzer joins the same people who brought him down. He will swoop in, buy up the assets of this country for a few pennies on the dollar, share in the re-distribution of wealth to the upper 2% while the rest of us are left with nothing but debt. Blow-jobs are nothing, but making money off the suffering of others is reprehensible. Elliot Spitzer should be prosecuting the people who have brought about this massive real estate fraud, and instead he will join them and share in the profits. Shame.

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

"the federal government unable to fund or provide basic social services for our people: schools, roads, bridges, healthcare, senior aid"

The STATES dose this! What is your state doing?

[Gary47]

Some days, the jokes just write themselves.

[GeoNorth]

It's not enough that he was screwing prostitutes. Now he's gonna screw homeowners...Thank you, thank you, I'll be appearing at the Jungle Room all this week. Try the Burgers...Thank you, thank you.

[DoctorDonut]

Yeah....right

http://www.theweeklydonut.com/index.php/2008/03/10/heres-your-spitzer/

[romanrose]

To be so detached from any sort of moral standard, having any scruples at all is so utterly bizarre. The lack of any base sense of decency in this person is completely shocking. He really needs some serious and intensive psychological help.

[thecanadian]

Guess who his very good friend is in New York. Wonder of this is the happy duo's new project,
joining his team? Wouldn't be the first time and it is right up their alley. Hope Obama keeps tabs on this one!

[joebhed]

Damn!
I coulda been a real estate guy all along.
No FBI checking my credit cards.
I coulda been sitting right here, racking up the millions.
Damn.

[SouthFloridaDem]

Still a scumbag at heart, I see.

[Binx101]

Career Crime Fighter turns to life of crime.

This would have been the perfect time for Spitzer to redeem the public trust he shattered (among those that bought his hubris and theatrics that is - we never did) http://binx101.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/eliot-spitzer-do-as-i-say/ by using what is left of his public collateral and proposing a government Bond fund that would do the same thing, except with the public good in mind and a criteria more akin to GHI and FHA which permitted a housing market to controllably move into profit while all the returning vets from WWII got restarted.

Nah ... guess vulture fund sounds more exciting now that he's cast himself as a villain.
He could have made such a better choice. We had him pegged way back when.

Binx101
The Almost Daily Binx
http://binx101.wordpress.com

[ErnestineBass]

While the term "vulture fund" doesn't exactly engender the best of visuals, at least thousands of empty homes would have some kind of owner responsible for maintaining the yard, paying taxes, etc..

This could prove to be a salvation of sorts for responsible homeowners impacted by the housing crash through no fault of their own. Just my opinion.

[YankeeCanuck]

You're right about that. In a crashing market, sometimes neighbors help keep an abandoned house looking neat so it does not impact the whole neighborhood.
Sure, a business like this is opportunistic. It's also risky and there's no guarantee of profit. But your premise is sound.

[ErnestineBass]

Thanks. Oftimes folks are like three blind men trying to describe an elephant.

They never see the whole picture, just a part or two.

[crank]

Empty dilapidated houses? Oh Eliot, we have to stop meeting this way.

[strifeknot]

The termites like to watch.

[YankeeCanuck]

It's interesting that Spitzer expressed relief at no longer being governor. Getting caught in a scandal like this one is a way to be relieved of those duties immediately-- a sometimes secret wish of a person who has risen to prominence.

These people are human, no better --or worse-- than the rest of us. We tend to forget that.

[berensma]

So it sounds like ES is going to fully embrace his scum of the earth side. Humiliation brings out the good and the bad in people....guess which one will dominate for him.