David Holzer’s Rockland
County McMansion.Photo: nydailynews.com
David Holzer’s former friends are totally flabbergasted that the 58-year-old former Brean Murray trader took the $16 million dollars they gave him to invest in real estate and instead went on a wild, midlife crisis–y spending spree that left him with a mere $375 left in his bank account. “It’s like a shock,” Holzer’s ex-friend and investor Barry Pessar told the Times after Holzer was arrested yesterday. “You judge people, you think they’re a certain way, and they’re not.” Pessar only lost $150,000, though, which is small change compared to another friend of Holzer’s named Barry. Barry Fingerhut gave Holzer $12 million, and this is especially embarrassing since he’s a founder of the private-equity firm Wheatley Partners and a member of the Board of Overseers at the Stern School of Business at New York University. Which begs the following question: Why are smart people always getting hosed by guys like Holzer? We’re not exactly finance geniuses over here at Daily Intel, but here’s a tip: If you give your friend a few million to invest and a few weeks later he shows up in a $300,000 Aston Martin, sporting a gold Cartier watch with diamonds on it, and talking about the $750,000 renovation he’s doing on his weekend house, something’s probably wrong.
Ex-Stock Trader Is Accused of Duping Friends Out of Millions [NYT]
