Hoffenberg began pax
month for Epstein’s exper
The SEC had already
tling with him out of cou
a securities. But Hoffenberg
In the 1980s, several n
CHAPTER 57 | the greenmailing of pub
i ‘d mailing means, in practic
investors will start buyin,
“tg yulnerable to takeover att
4 a utives at those companies
ee risky, but very often tl profit.
Yet another thing Hol American World Airways. its downward trajectory, t
For Hoffenberg,’ the ; huge.
Steven Hoffenberg: July 10, 1987
re was Steven Hoffenberg. head of Towers Financial ch as unpaid
efore there was Bernie Madoff, the
In 1987, Hoffenberg was the n, a company that bought debts, su
medical bills, at a very steep discount while pressing the debtors
to repay in full. Hed started the company fifteen years earlier with two thousand dollars and just a handful of employees. ; Thanks, in part, to a grueling work ethic, he’d turned that into a q much bigger concern, with twelve hundred employees and stock ~ that traded over the counter. But Hoffenberg still spent fifteen hours each day, six days a week, in his office. ‘ He wanted more. Hoffenberg was @ Wall Street outsider. A
y. A college dropout, like Epstein. g wanted was respect. The other ¥
r with Wall Street’s inner workings: Jef
ns, fit the bill
Corporatio
q According to Hoffenberg, " over of Pan Am—a deal tl 7 Steven Hoffenberg stil listening to him, one mus penilty to criminal conspir: million swindle, a familiz E ernie Madoff case.
Brooklyn bo One thing Hoffenber | Like so many others without the necessary w
ent at the office, he'd als
3
someone who was familia frey Epstein, who had traded options for Bear Stear F
st
110
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