As the winds of the financial crisis have blown the lid off of one Ponzi scheme after another, we’ve often asked ourselves: Why? What could have caused these people to become so desperate that they would cheat their friends, family, and co-workers, that they would construct for themselves a life built on complete and utter lies? What kind of sickos are these people, and what made them that way? What horrible trauma did they endure? Marc Dreier, the lawyer who was recently sentenced to prison for committing a $380 million fraud, gave Vanity Fair two moments that he felt were formative to his Ponzi scheme.
One was 9/11:
The other was a palpable moment of real-estate envy, which led to a moment of self-loathing, which led to a feeling of utter conviction:
It happened one day when he found himself staring at a palatial beachfront home. His own house was inland. He had always wanted one right on the beach. It was at that moment, Dreier says, that he came to two conclusions. He would buy himself a big house on the beach. And he would get the money by dramatically expanding his firm, now renamed Dreier L.L.P. Dreier knows how ridiculous this sounds, that his criminal behavior can be traced to his yearning for a better beach house.
If this is all that tips the scales, shouldn’t all New Yorkers be Ponzi-schemers?
Marc Dreier’s Crime of Destiny [VF]
Related: The Impersonator [NYM]
