Thursday, January 29, 2009

Tidbits and Whispers

1.
Have the children seen the myriad of reports about how former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld, who reportedly earned close to $40,000,000 in both 2006 and 2007, sold his Jupiter Island, FL hideaway to his wife Kathy in November of 2007 for just $100? That's right chickens, one hundred clams.

Well, we've read all those reports too and the whole thing just makes Your Mama want to puke.

Speculation by many is that the property ownership transfer was an effort by Mister Fuld to protect his ass-ets should irate shareholders and creditors who lost billions in the collapse of Lehman Brothers go after his considerable personal wealth with a furious flurry of lawsuits.

Their Jupiter Island hideaway, for which Mister and Missus Fuld jointly forked over $13,750,000 in March of 2004, isn't the only ass-et the Fuld family is apparently looking to protect and/or liquidate. Just days (Days children! Days!) after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the modern art collecting Missus Fuld was rumored to have put approximately $20,000,000 worth of artwork up for sale at Christies that included works by big shit abstract expressionists like Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, Agnes Martin and Barnett Newman. Was the timing just coincidence? Could be. You decide.

Although the demise of Lehman Brothers sucked tens of billions of dollars out of the economy, property records show he and his wife Kathy still own several excruciatingly lavish and expensive to maintain properties including an 11+ acre spread in the hedge fund heaven that is Greenwich, CT (pictured above), a 6,200 square foot fixer upper on Manhattan's posh Park Avenue for which they paid a knee buckling $21,000,000 in March of 2007, at least one property in Ketchum, Idaho near the Sun Valley ski resort, and another just outside of a small town called Cornwall in Vermont. And that's just what Your Mama came up with after poking around property records for less than five minutes.

Your Mama is all kinds of indignant and spitting mad now and we see a fat nerve pill in our early morning future.

2.
All sorts rumors and reports are starting to surface and swirl about that Lauren Conrad gurl from The Hills moving out of her house on N. Orange Grove Avenue in Los Angeles and into a high rise condo along the Wilshire Corridor in Westwood. Your Mama has heard the rumor (rumor children, RUMOR!) that Miss Conrad and roommate–whose name we don't know or care to know–are moving out because they were having a lot of conflict with the neighbors who were hissy fitting about all the unwanted activity on the block that resulted from filming at the house.

Holy Mary Mother of God! Who cares?

Isn't this gurl's Warholian 15 minutes up yet?

3.
You're gonna love this one children. We sure did. Your Mama hears from Nelly Knowsitall that whistle stop wonder Mariah Carey is not the only high maintenance showbiz dee-vah considering shacking up in the San Fernando Valley. Can y'all guess who it is?

Are you ready? Get ready to whoop, holler and gasp for air...

It's Jennifer Lopez.

Can. You. Stand. It?

Miss Knowsitall whispered in Your Mama's big ear that the La Lopez and entourage recently toured several large and lavish homes in the 10,000 square foot range. Well of course she did. Beehawtcha cain't be living up with that wild eyed huzband and two kids in any kind of house smaller than a damn boo-teek hotel.

Miz Lopez and her huzband are making all sorts of real estate news lately as they've recently bought the neighboring property to their Brookville, NY estate and, as everyone surely knows by now, Mister and Missus Lopez also have their Bel Air mini-compound on the market with an $8,500,000 asking price.

4.
It was also recently whispered in Your Mama's big ear by someone who would know that a couple of big name famous folks (1 male and 1 Oscar nominated female, who are not a couple) have been seen peeping properties in the $3-5,000,000 range in the star studded Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. More details to come when we know more.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

loves it!

Anonymous said...

Hey Mama! if our tax money went for those Fuld properties we really ought to get a piece, don't ya think? Like we could all coordinate our times there like a hamptons summer rental, only divided by how many taxpayers? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Anonymous said...

4. Jake and his Beard?

Anonymous said...

no one cares about lauren conrad!!!!

John McKee said...

Lauren Conrad has a nasty surprise coming if she thinks her fellow condo residents are going to more, not much less accepting of her filming/paparazzi/party ways. Girl will have a stack 10 inches thick of fines and notices of violations within weeks I bet and not a leg to stand on because unlike her upset neighbors at her old house these neighbors can foreclose on her condo if she chooses not to pay the numerous and large fines levied on her for every tiny infraction of house rules.

Anonymous said...

good call anon 11:51!

Anonymous said...

i bet its brangelina thats looking at houses in los feliz

Anonymous said...

Anon at 11:33,

Lehman did not receive any TARP money. They went bankrupt before TARP was even voted on.

Anonymous said...

The solution to the obscenely over-rewarded like Fuld is simply a 85% income tax on anything over a million, or perhaps 1.5 million for a couple. Written in such a way that it can't be gotten around. Such a device would do wonders to reassert a sense of fairness in the scheme of things. It's high time for a wee bit of obligatory redistribution of income in the USA. Even a whiff of, dare I say it, "socialism."

Anonymous said...

Yeah redistribute the money people work hard to earn to those who sit on their asses and demand to be taken care of. Great. No more rich people, no more incentive, no more incentive to be productive, and no more fodder for Mama's wonderful blog. I hope you enjoy seeing the postings of 1800 sq ft. ramblers with tin tool sheds in the back yard. It sure worked for the Russians. Look at them now!

mazey said...

Brad already own 4 houses in Los Feliz. It's Reese and Jake.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:15 is right. Just because some crooks are rich doesn't mean all rich people are crooks. What is so wrong with economonic diversity along side racial and religious diversity?

Anonymous said...

I don't know who Mama is talking about but read the thing again:

"1 male and 1 Oscar nominated female, WHO ARE NOT A COUPLE"

lil' gay boy said...

Not that anyone could possibly care, but here's the aerial view of J. Lo's Brookville home on the left with the ho-hum "meh" colonial they are supposedly buying for "security reasons..." yeah, right.

It's a dead end off a busy road with no thru traffic so unless the sellers are Scientologists looking to "enforce" J. Lo's choice of batshit-crazy Tom Cruise as godfather (see "Sacrificing Twins on the altar of Scientology") then she must be expecting them to found another Greek city in her backyard via twin sacrifice a la Amphion and Zethus...

...come to think of it, that pool house is suspiciously "Hellenic..."

Anonymous said...

I'm sure Fuld has the best lawyers money can buy, but I doubt transferring a multi-million dollar asset to your spouse for $100 does much to insulate it from legal action.

Why so hard on 'The Valley'? I've lived on both sides and in many ways the valley is better. Just keep J-Lo and her ilk away from Studio City. I like it the way it is. (Shatner and Clooney can stay though)

Anonymous said...

I am with you in spirit, 2:22.. I have no problem with people that work hard and smart doing well, but give me a break, this guy ran the company into the ground! We need to have some realignment of executive compensation along the lines of long term performance. And some boards of directors with backbone, that keep an eye on management.

Anonymous said...

I guess Jenny Lo lives in the worst part of NY, so why not the worst part of LA?

Anonymous said...

Folks, Mamma is alluding to a raging affair -- two people already spoken for making a little nest on the side.

Anonymous said...

I hope Reese and Jake don't come to Los feliz...I've lived here for 10 years and ever since Katherine Heigl moved here the paparazzi have invaded this place...this will push it over the top. It's def. not Brad..his compound in The Oaks is one of the most amazing estates in Los Angeles.

KatieM said...

my house in los feliz just went on the market -- my realtor just called and told me that a "celebrity" is coming to see it tomorrow. whoever it is is pregnant ... who could it be??????

Anonymous said...

Yeah redistribute the money people work hard to earn...

You talkin' bout Fuld? Help, I'm on the floor and my sides are splitting from laughter. "Work hard..." oooohhhh, that's...er....rich!

Anonymous said...

Well Kathie, who was it?

Anonymous said...

Nadya Suleman but she had to go to the hospital to have them pull out the litter instead.