CHAPTER 27
Steven Hoffenberg: July 10, 1987
nie Madoff, there was Steven Hoffenberg.
In 1987, Hoffenberg was the head of Towers Financial ny that bought debts, such as unpaid discount while pressing the debtors
the company fift
efore there was Ber
Corporation, a compa medical bills, at a very steep to repay in full. He'd started with two thousand dollars and
Thanks, in part, toa grueling work ethic, he much bigger concern, with twelve hundred employees and stock
that traded over the counter. Bu ys a week, in his office.
hours each day, six da Wall Street outsider. A
He wanted more. Hoffenberg was 4 Brooklyn boy. A college dropout, like Epstein.
One thing Hoffenberg wanted was respect. The o : e who was familiar with Wall Street's inner workings. Jel : tions for Bear Stearns, fit the bill:
ther
someon frey Epstein, who had traded op
110
een years earlier just a handful of employees. 4 ‘d turned that into a j
t Hoffenberg still spent fifteen
4
Hoffenberg began pay month for Epstein’s exper The SEC had already tling with him out of cov securities. But Hoffenberg In the 1980s, several n the greenmailing of pub
= rr, ‘
“Ah FS) ¥ ~ {es b i “4 He
i!
mailing means, in practic
investors will start buyin
vulnerable to takeover att utives at those companies It’s risky, but very often th profit.
Yet another thing Hol American World Airways. its downward trajectory, k
For Hoffenberg,: the ; huge.
According to Hoffenberg, _ over of Pan Am—a deal tl Steven Hoffenberg stil
:
4. listening to him, one mus
| seuilty to criminal conspit: . m illion swindle, a familiz Bernie Madoff case.
Like so many others, Pithout the necessary w »?P ent at the office, he'd als
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_021968