Zerohedge just published a recap of yesterday's Wall Street Journal article (behind pay wall) exposing Tony Podesta's demise. Happy Patriots Day! Not only did his "pedovore" art collection cause the breakup of his marriage, refusal to sell cost him his firm. Great read! Lots about the art collection.
Some highlights...
Podesta's purchases of artwork behind his wife's back reportedly caused Heather Podesta to file for divorce. Tony kept most of his art collection, while Heather received nearly $5 million in retirement savings, homes in Washington and Manhattan, and $4 million paid quarterly over five years.
The [Podesta Group] unraveling was swift. As clients such as Wells Fargo, Wal Mart and Oracle Corp. bailed on the Podesta Group, they death-spiraled into default - as Tony refused to pledge his giant art collection against firm obligations.
With clients leaving, the Podesta Group had no money. Rent was due the next day. One idea was to use Mr. Podesta’s art collection as collateral for a loan, but he refused.
“At that time, it was inadvisable to provide additional guarantees as an individual for the obligations of the corporation,” the Podesta Group’s spokeswoman said.
The Podesta Group’s chief financial officer sent Mr. Podesta a 7:23 p.m. email: “If we don’t have collateral pledged prior to 5pm tomorrow, we will be in default.” If the firm went into default, the CFO wrote, “we will not be able to meet our rent, your art payments, ad campaigns, and most importantly payroll.”
Mr. Podesta responded: “need list of next 5 layoffs,” among other questions. The next day, he left for an art show in Turin, Italy. The bank’s deadline passed.
On Friday, the firm’s CFO quit. That night, a senior manager sent an email to Mr. Podesta, still in Italy, saying the bank had frozen the firm’s funds.
“This means that we have no way to pay employees,” the email said. “If we do not alert employees immediately that we have no way to pay them for their work, the firm is committing fraud.” -WSJ
Podesta Group was a nebulous organization with no board oversight and all financial decisions made by Tony Podesta. Carlson’s source said payments and kickbacks could be hard for investigators to trace, describing it as a “highly secret treasure trove.” One employee’s only official job was to manage Tony Podesta’s art collection, which could be used to conceal financial transactions.
The WSJ must have inadvertently left out another factor which may have contributed to Podesta Group clients heading for the hills; a spotlight on Tony Podesta's strange artwork which began swirling around the internet during the emergence of the discredited "pizzagate" theory.
Internet sleuths pointed to a June, 2015 issue of "Washington Life" magazine featuring some of Tony Podesta's artwork, along with a 2004 Washington Post article entitled Married, With Art - describing how shocked Podesta guests stumbled across pictures of naked teenagers during a house tour.
view the rest of the comments →
mrohm ago
It's so rare to read a positive story these days.