The last tycoons: the secret history of Lazard Frères & Co (135 page)

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Authors: William D. Cohan

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BOOK: The last tycoons: the secret history of Lazard Frères & Co
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"We'll have a really interesting debate": Ibid. The analysis of the "politics" of the appointment also from ibid.

"That didn't make Michel happy": Andrews, "Felix Loses It."

"Why are you doing it": Woodward,
Maestro,
p. 156.

"squelch[ing] dissident thoughts": Ibid.

"You're crazy": Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

"Unlike some previous Fed vice chairmen":
WSJ,
January 19, 1996.

"R-O-H-A-T-Y-N spells stagflation":
Time,
February 26, 1996.

"What will happen if we send you": Woodward,
Maestro
, p. 162.

"financier-pundit Felix Rohatyn": Paul Krugman, "Stay on Their Backs,"
NYT Magazine,
February 4, 1996.

"An example of what should not be done": Transcript of President Clinton's speech at the Sheraton New York, February 15, 1996, from Clinton Foundation.

Felix had already left: Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

"Michel has been buttressing himself": Andrews, "Felix Loses It."

"Felix is angry and bitter": Ibid.

"I don't believe Felix ever intended": Interview with Suzanna Andrews, November 9, 2005.

"Steve is so monomaniacal": Andrews, "Felix Loses It."

"I hope you throw away your notebook": Interviews with SR, September 14, 2004, and Suzanna Andrews, November 9, 2005.

"in the past few years": Andrews, "Felix Loses It."

"there is a perception": Ibid.

"You have to understand" and other quotations: Andrews, "Felix Loses It."

"The son is getting too successful": Ibid.

"It is almost a crime": Ibid.

"Culture change is hard": Interview with Arthur Sulzberger Jr., March 29,2005.

"The success and the dysfunction of Lazard": Andrews, "Felix Loses It."

Chapter 14. "It's a White Man's World"

"And here they are at twenty-five thousand feet": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"I have never seen it to that extent": Interview with MDW, November 30,2005.

"She has this house with birds": Suzanna Andrews, "The Scion in Winter,"
Vanity Fair,
March 1997, p. 276.

"Fees for services rendered": Interview with a Lazard partner.

Interview with a Lazard partner, October 27, 2006.

"half of Michel is better": Interview with MDW, January 31, 2005.

"My wife, who is not terribly sensitive": Interview with MDW, November 15, 2006.

"He adored his girls": Interview with a longtime Lazard observer.

"Felix, why don't you go": Interviews with Lazard partners.

"No, it didn't happen": Interview with FGR, May 25, 2005.

"Getting into our building": Interview with Alan McFarland, April 5, 2005.

"moved from bachelor around town": Ibid.

two hookers: Interviews with Lazard partners.

"When I was there": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"Like all these beautiful young girls": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"And sure enough": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Lazard being the way it is": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"I think the firm was small": Interview with WL, June 30, 2005.

"We were kind of": Ibid.

"She'd been there for a couple of months": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"It was a very small firm": Interview with Mina Gerowin, January 6, 2005.

"I told him to fuck off": Ibid.

"I'm so frosted at this": Ibid.

"He heard what was happening": Ibid.

"So did these things happen?": Ibid.

"You'd walk into their office": Ibid.

"I don't know why she's here": Ibid.

"Why are we firing Mina?": Ibid.

"It was so brutal": Ibid.

"You're not being very productive": Ibid.

"From the beginning": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Why don't you just go home": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"And while we were one": Interview with Kathy Kelly, April 6, 2005.

"And it was the beginning": Ibid.

"utils," "cogs in the machine": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Obviously that's where it becomes": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"It's a white man's world": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"I believe that Bill Loomis": Interview with Kelly, April 6, 2005.

"I remember Michel saying to me": Interview with Christina Mohr, January 6, 2005.

"I think that Christina Mohr": Interview with WL, June 30, 2005.

"Basically she came back": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Michel sent us over there": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"And there were no walls": Interview with Kate Bohner, May 2, 2005.

"Remarkably, it wasn't as jarring": Kate Bohner, "Stiletto Feminists,"
George,
August 2000.

"I was very naive": Interview with Bohner, May 2, 2005.

"still wouldn't have been": Ibid.

"Back then, if I was a client": Ibid.

"I lived at Claridge's": Ibid.

"I didn't understand": Ibid.

"I don't understand why a girl": Ibid.

"It was sort of just like constant": Ibid.

"She's getting killed": Ibid.

"When somebody confronted me": Ibid.

"The tally of people": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"I think that it is a remarkable": Interview with Kelly, April 6, 2005.

"blissfully unaware": Interview with FGR, May 25, 2005.

"Without going into personalities": Interview with a Lazard banker.

regular visitor to Bohner's office: Interview with Bohner, May 2, 2005.

Account of a senior vice president at Bohner's apartment: Interviews with Bohner (May 2, 2005), Mary Conwell (August 2006), and Lazard partners.

"throw me into a brick wall": Interview with Bohner, May 2, 2005.

"If I had gone to Bill Loomis": Ibid.

"I was embarrassed by the whole situation": Ibid.

Account of Kate Bohner's relationship with Ward Woods: Ibid.

"There were a series of very difficult": Interview with WL, June 30, 2005.

"I'd say, in 1980": Ibid.

"Kate came into my office": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Then all of a sudden": Ibid.

"And of being a class act": Ibid.

Account of Robert Agostinelli incidents: Interviews with Lazard partners.

Account of Kate Bohner's post-Lazard activities: Interview with Bohner, May 2, 2005, and press accounts.

Chapter 15. The Heir Apparent

"We are at our very core": MDW memorandum, March 1, 1996.

"The article in
New York Magazine":
FGR memorandum, March 4, 1996.

"There's absolutely no excuse": Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

"Look, what happened, happened": Ibid.

"He's a complicated guy": Interview with SR, September 14, 2004.

"We were both viewed in the firm": Ibid.

"She was a dreadful woman": Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

"Which wasn't quite true": Ibid.

"They ought to have somebody": Ibid.

"And I said to Elizabeth": Ibid.

"You know, Mr. Rohatyn": Ibid.

"So I gave that to Vernon": Ibid.

"There is still no decision": Ibid.

"really, really terrible": Ibid.

Perella denied: Author's e-mail correspondence with Perella, March 17,2006.

"He had immense charm": Bryan Burrough, "The Man in the Latex Suit,"
Vanity Fair,
July 2005.

three facets of the Stern biography: From press accounts--especially Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit"; Kate Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence,"
Forbes,
November 20, 1995; and Suzanna Andrews, "The Scion in Winter,"
Vanity Fair,
March 1997--and interviews with Jeffrey Keil on January 26, 2006, and March 8, 2006.

partridge, pheasant, and duck shoot: Interviews with Keil.

"I knew this was the way": Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence."

"True, it was the family bank": Ibid.

"Everyone said Edouard stole": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit."

"the person she had loved": Interview with MDW, April 12, 2005.

"Edouard was like a tornado":
Le Nouvel Observateur,
March 10, 2005.

"Beware of self-made men": Andrews, "Scion in Winter."

"The single most distinctive": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit"; and interviews with Keil.

"Those of you who trust me": "Stern: La mort enigmatique d'un homme presse,"
Le Figaro,
March 12, 2005.

"Edouard sauntered onto the plane": Interview with Jon Wood, February 1,2005.

"He always wanted to challenge": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit."

Account of investigation into Stern's purchase of Consolidated Gold shares: British Department of Trade and Industry, chap. 19, pp. 576-90, published in book form in 1994.

"were concerned to ascertain": Ibid.

"deliberately failed to ensure": Ibid.

"There is no evidence": Ibid.

"I see it as a learning experience": Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence."

"In Paris there were people": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

crook: Interview with a Lazard partner.

"I think it had a huge impact": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"He can be absolutely": Andrews, "Scion in Winter."

"There was only one person": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"When things didn't go exactly": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit."

"If you had to choose, in France": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

"Maybe I would have felt different": Ibid.

"there were a lot of questions": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Jupiter turned out to be": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"This sent a clear message": Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence."

"I was not sure absolutely": Interview with MDW, April 12, 2005.

"I had to clean up Stern's mess": Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence."

Stern and the Chunnel bonds: Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Stern negotiated a hell of a deal": Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence."

"the best merchant banker": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

"On the advisory front": Interview with Patrick Sayer, January 31, 2005.

"Which really proves": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

"One can debate": Ibid.

"Which I should have known": Ibid.

"It's important to have somebody": Ibid.

"At one point, Michel had to": Interview with Jean-Michel Steg, February 1,2005.

"The partners there look like": Andrews, "Scion in Winter."

"At first there was a lot of initial skepticism": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"le gendre incontrolable"
:
Evening Standard
(London), June 10, 2005.

"I just detest incompetence": Bohner Lewis, "I Just Detest Incompetence."

"I don't think Edouard": Andrews, "Scion in Winter."

"Beatrice would be better off": Ibid.

"Ms. Lauvergeon's professional":
Le Monde,
November 1996, and
NYT
, November 13, 1996.

"a furious dispute":
NYT
, November 13, 1996.

"Either I am going to be the boss": Andrews, "Scion in Winter."

"I want you to retire": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"I treated him like my son": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

"Michel does know a lot about medicine": e-mail correspondence with WL.

"Michel is the only person": Interviews with Kim Fennebresque, October 19 and 25, 2004.

"enjoys cigars": "Cigars in the Boardroom,"
Cigar Aficionado,
June 1, 1995.

"fucking bushel": Interviews with Fennebresque, October 19 and 25, 2004.

"So some Puerto Rican": Ibid.

"The law is very strange": Interview with MDW, April 12, 2005.

"Lazard is like Wall Street": Description of Lazard at iWon.com.

"Agostinelli had his girlfriend": Interview with Ken Wilson, January 18, 2005.

"He had someone send for his stash": Interviews with Fennebresque, October 19 and 25, 2004.

"She'd call me": Ibid.

"I used to watch Michel": Ibid.

"You know, in life": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

"We do not like to make revolutions": Robert Teitelman, "Divided We Fall,"
Institutional Investor
, May 1993.

"If I were not sane": AE, December 15, 2000.

"Edouard was very impatient": Interview with MDW, December 1, 2004.

"people basically respected my decisions": Ibid.

"What caught me by surprise":
Financial Times
, January 11, 1997.

"Sooner or later": Ibid.

"Any investment bank": John Gapper,
Financial Times
, October 6, 2004, and
Financial Times
, May 2, 1997.

"Michel is in a very tight spot": Andrews, "Scion in Winter."

"Michel always tries to put the best face": Ibid.

"His joy is power and exercising power": Ibid.

"Be careful with him": Ibid.

"Those whose enduring object is power": Thomas Pynchon,
Against the Day
(New York: Penguin Press, 2006).

"There is a fashion": Ibid.

"He said it was a disappointment": Interview with Suzanna Andrews, November 9, 2005.

"For some reason, he decided": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Edouard has great and real talent":
NYT
, May 23, 1997.

"He always made money": Interview with MDW.

"I love and respect Beatrice": Burrough, "Man in the Latex Suit."

"Felix Rohatyn has been my partner": MDW memorandum, April 15, 1997.

Chapter 16. "All the Responsibility but None of the Authority"

"We demanded that he attend":
Euromoney
, January 2001.

"You don't understand who Bruce is": Ibid.

"We're going to try to merge": Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

"You can't merge with Wasserstein": Ibid.

"Felix was deeply skeptical": Interview with Ken Wilson, January 18, 2005.

"They were a bunch of turkeys": Ibid.

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