The Other Wolf of Wall Street
March 30, 2019 11:34 PM Subscribe
“Of course, what I found is every time I uncovered the corruption, I was just getting higher and higher. The reason why nothing was being done about any of these appalling actions was because the corruption went right to the top.” Zaron Burnett III writes 6400 (somewhat rambling) words for MEL Magazine, mostly about Jho Low.
Burnett quotes The New York Times on Low at some length: “Mr. Low, 33, is a skillful, and more than occasionally flamboyant, iteration of the sort of operative essential to the economy of the global super rich. Just as many of the wealthy use shell companies to keep the movement of money opaque, they also use people like Mr. Low. Whether shopping for new business opportunities or real estate, he has often done so on behalf of investors or, as he likes to say, friends. Whether the money belongs to others or is his own, the lines are frequently blurry, the identity of the buyer elusive.”
The pull quote for the post text is from Clare Rewcastle Brown.
Low has appeared previously on MetaFilter.
Burnett quotes The New York Times on Low at some length: “Mr. Low, 33, is a skillful, and more than occasionally flamboyant, iteration of the sort of operative essential to the economy of the global super rich. Just as many of the wealthy use shell companies to keep the movement of money opaque, they also use people like Mr. Low. Whether shopping for new business opportunities or real estate, he has often done so on behalf of investors or, as he likes to say, friends. Whether the money belongs to others or is his own, the lines are frequently blurry, the identity of the buyer elusive.”
The pull quote for the post text is from Clare Rewcastle Brown.
Low has appeared previously on MetaFilter.
It seems all the high-end realtors, art auction houses, international investment bankers, Hollywood people and DiCaprio and Paris Hilton saw Low as something of a sucker, a rich man throwing his money away. So, you know, why not take it? But some people had to know — or at least suspect. And those people ignored it, or dismissed that little voice because they wanted something, too.
That the author makes even a weak effort to separate out Low from the high-end realtors, international bankers, art investors, Hollywood people and all those named celebrities at the end of the piece just shows how deep the interest is in justifying their parts in the system as being different than Low's. They aren't just complicit, tainted by association and willful ignorance, they are all part of the same network. Some manage to avoid direct association with "provably illegal" but it's all illegitimate and unethical and those that sell themselves know that as well as those that do the buying. The author seems to want to make this point, suggesting it strongly enough at times, but then hedges on it, ending the piece weakly, as if returning it to the telling the story of an episode rather than describing the animating principle of the franchise as a whole.
posted by gusottertrout at 5:00 AM on March 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
That the author makes even a weak effort to separate out Low from the high-end realtors, international bankers, art investors, Hollywood people and all those named celebrities at the end of the piece just shows how deep the interest is in justifying their parts in the system as being different than Low's. They aren't just complicit, tainted by association and willful ignorance, they are all part of the same network. Some manage to avoid direct association with "provably illegal" but it's all illegitimate and unethical and those that sell themselves know that as well as those that do the buying. The author seems to want to make this point, suggesting it strongly enough at times, but then hedges on it, ending the piece weakly, as if returning it to the telling the story of an episode rather than describing the animating principle of the franchise as a whole.
posted by gusottertrout at 5:00 AM on March 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
Wow, what a story.
Yet more evidence that the super-rich feel no accountability to the average person: their allegiance is to the other super-rich out there.
posted by suelac at 10:46 AM on March 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
Yet more evidence that the super-rich feel no accountability to the average person: their allegiance is to the other super-rich out there.
posted by suelac at 10:46 AM on March 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
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posted by cendawanita at 3:12 AM on March 31, 2019 [6 favorites]