Of the many Wall Street figures that were toppled during the financial crisis of 2008, Erin Callan, the bright, promising, well-heeled CFO of Lehman Brothers, may have fallen hardest and fastest. After a disastrous conversation with short-seller David Einhorn, Callan was abruptly fired by her mentor, CEO Richard Fuld, and though she was able to cash out her shares before the firm collapsed entirely, and even to find new employment, the incident followed her and she soon dropped out of the industry for good. Where is she now? Fortune reports:
She’s living quietly — only 100 miles from Manhattan — in East Hampton, the Long Island summer playground for affluent New Yorkers. Her traditional wood-shingled house, which she bought for $3.9 million in 2005, sits behind a gate marked “Callan.”
Well, that’s a bit sad, you might say to yourself, that she’s all alone out there in the woods.
Well, that’s a bit sad, you might say to yourself, that she’s all alone out there in the woods.
What is she doing out there? you might ask. Having some kind of breakdown, like Neel Kashkari? Replaying that phone call with Einhorn over and over again in her mind while mindlessly gorging on Ben and Jerry’s? Poring over plans for the underground tunnel she plans to dig leading to Dick Fuld’s mansion in order to give him “a little scare”? No.
These days the onetime superachiever is keeping company with Anthony Montella, a New York City firefighter who attended high school with her at St. Francis Prep. The two eat out regularly. One of their favorite spots is Citta Nuova, an Italian restaurant partly owned by another Wall Street honcho, Joe Perella. People who have known Callan for years say she looks better than ever. She and Anthony seem to be in love.
We bet she is. It’s official: Drowing your sorrows by boffing a hot firefighter in the woods is the new drowning your sorrows by boning a hot young Italian in a restored Tuscan villa.
Update: oh, god, it gets better. Our friend Bess at Dealbreaker stalked Facebook and thinks she has found Anthony Montella. Warning: Your ovaries may actually explode.
The Fall of a Wall Street Highflier [Fortune]
