The last tycoons: the secret history of Lazard Frères & Co (132 page)

"I just distanced myself": Interview with FGR, December 17, 2004.

On June 16, 1972: SEC files, SEC charge against Lazard.

"simple gold Tiffany clock": Cary Reich, "The Legacy of Andre Meyer,"
Institutional Investor,
April 1979.

Kennedy told Casey:
WSJ,
June 28,973.

out-of-court settlement: SEC files.

"That was big, big stuff": Interview with Stanley Sporkin, October 22, 2004.

a rare public statement: SEC files.

lawsuits were filed against ITT: SEC files.

"Secret documents which escaped shredding": Jack Anderson columns from U.S. Senate investigations on the International Telephone and Telegraph Co. and Chile, 1970-71, March-April 1973.

"model of the new breed": "The Remarkable Felix G. Rohatyn,"
Business-Week,
March 10, 1973.

"Andre didn't like it one bit": Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

"I am still far from satisfied": FGR "Dark Ages" memo, April 9, 1973.

IRS decided to revoke:
NYT
, March 7, 1974, and
WSJ,
April 15, 1974.

"In the unlikely event": SEC files.

FGR testimony November 16, 1973, and April 24, 1974: SEC files.

Mullarkey testimony November 16, 1973, and April 24, 1974: SEC files.

Andre Meyer testimony on four separate occasions: SEC files.

"merger mastermind": Michael Jensen,
NYT,
June 23, 1974.

"It's far and away": Ibid.

"If he pulls it off":
Time,
June 17,1974.

FGR editorial about RFC:
NYT,
December 1, 1974.

Gus Levy and William McChesney Martin letters to the editor:
NYT,
December 22, 1974.

"If Lockheed is the kind":
Forbes,
January 15, 1975.

the SEC's
second
examination: SEC files.

"I got a call from David Burke" and the story of becoming head of MAC: Interview with FGR, January 20, 2005.

"For the last two weeks":
NYT,
June 5, 1975.

"They may be new to the problem": Ibid.

"I didn't tell the Republicans":
WSJ,
October 10, 1975.

"Congratulations. Sisyphus should have":
Fortune,
October 1975.

"Plays hob with my domestic life":
Washington Post
, November 11, 1956.

"Jeannette was very intelligent": Judith Ramsey Ehrlich and Barry Rehfeld,
The New Crowd
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1989). p. 97.

"She was an extraordinarily bright": Ibid.

Description of FGR's years with Helene Gaillet: Interview with Helene Gaillet, February 3, 2006.

"stuffed with books, magazines": Peter Hellman, "The Wizard of Lazard,"
NYT Magazine,
March 21, 1976; and
WSJ,
October 10, 1975. Felix even once described the Alrae as a "dump" and said that when he was dating his second wife, Elizabeth, she insisted he move out (Ehrlich and Rehfeld,
New Crowd,
p. 165).

"Look, I was living with a woman": Interview with FGR, May 25, 2005.

"In those days": Ehrlich and Rehfeld,
New Crowd,
p. 164.

"He is the Henry Kissinger":
Newsweek,
August 4, 1975.

"It was just a relatively small": SEC files, FGR testimony.

"There was no reason for me": Interview with Mel Heineman.

"The only recollection I have": SEC files, Heineman testimony.

"Mr. Heineman is a nice man": SEC files, Meyer testimony.

"To the best that I can": SEC files, Heineman testimony.

"were linked": SEC files, Mullarkey testimony.

"Mr. Sundick, are you": Ibid.

"It's my present impression": Ibid.

"Andre found some people": Interview with FGR, December 17, 2004.

Sam Harris's letter to Irwin Borowski: SEC files.

October 13, 1976, settlement between SEC and Lazard: SEC files.

"new light on one of the most complex": Judith Miller,
NYT,
October 14, 1976, p. 78.

the SEC's single-spaced compendium:
In the Matter of International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, Lazard Freres,
release no. 14049, October 13, 1976.

criminal grand jury: Interviews with Robert Price, April 15, 2005; Disque Deane, August 17, 2005; Patrick Gerschel, June 21, 2005; and others.

Felix adamantly and repeatedly denied: Interviews with FGR among them, May 25, 2005, and January 17, 2006.

Sporkin denied: Interview with Sporkin, June 3, 2005.

"I swear on the Torah": Interview with Price, December 14, 2005.

"I will confirm that, yes": Interview with Deane, August 17, 2005.

"Felix would deny that he was walking": Interview with Gerschel, June 21,2005.

"we are very pleased":
NYT,
May 9,1981.

"was unable to push a paper clip": Reich,
Financier
, p. 311.

"It was brilliantly conceived": Ibid., p. 331.

wrapped in brown paper: Message from Disque Deane, August 22, 2005, and interview, September 13, 2005.

"It was not so much a sale": Ibid., p. 359.

"It was a typical rich man's": Ibid., p. 360.

"The prized Andre Meyer": Ibid.

"stand as an enduring": Douglas Dillon homage to Andre Meyer,
Congressional Record,
October 11, 1979.

"The Meyer Galleries were as crisp": Paul Goldberger,
NYT,
September 19,1993.

"Timeliness, style and charm": Jacob Javits,
Congressional Record,
October 11,1979.

"Rohatyn's voice cracked": Reich,
Financier,
p. 355.

"Sometimes I imagine": Ibid., p. 356.

Chapter 7. The Sun King

"haute banque d'affaires":
"The Making of Lazard's Michel David-Weill,"
Euromoney,
March 1981.

"perhaps a little bit more": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"I guess the thinking of the 'early runners'": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Frank Zarb once told me": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Objectively, Michel is the landowner": Jean-Claude Haas, "Assault on the House of Lazard,"
Forbes,
September 4, 2000.

"This is not a partnership": Interview with Frank Pizzitola, April 18, 2005.

"You would need many advanced degrees": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"did things as a helper":
Fortune,
November 1977.

"If you don't see us getting back": Cary Reich,
Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer
(New York: Morrow, 1983), p. 243.

"I had to persuade him": Ibid., p. 244.

"The president stepped down":
Fortune,
November 1977.

"the real significance of the Franco Wyoming deal": Reich,
Financier,
p. 246.

"Memorandum to Partners": Andre Meyer, December 26, 1974.

"So as to show who was in charge": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"Pierre was so smart": Interview with Robert Ellsworth.

"My father had, in my opinion": Interview with MDW, November 30, 2005.

"He was an immortal": Interview with Patrick Gerschel, June 21, 2005.

"I have a certain degree of influence": Robert J. Cole, "End of an Era at Lazard,"
NYT,
January 30, 1977.

"Mr. Rohatyn is a very important man": Ibid.

"not something I yearn for":
NYT,
August 22, 1976.

"Suppose I was appointed": Peter Hellman, "The Wizard of Lazard,"
NYT Magazine,
March 21, 1976.

July 2, 1976: Memorandum to partners from Donald Cook.

August 19: Memorandum to partners from Donald Cook.

"And it went from bad to worse": Interview with Gerschel, January 20, 2005.

September 1976: Memorandum to partners from Andre Meyer and MDW.

"strictly confidential": Cole, "End of an Era at Lazard."

"We saw them drifting downward": Cary Reich, "The Legacy of Andre Meyer,"
Institutional Investor,
April 1979.

"The risk was not of losing business": "The Making of Lazard's Michel David-Weill."

"He was politicking": Interview with Gerschel, June 21, 2005.

"I told him it wouldn't be good": FGR,
Newsweek,
May 4, 1981.

"We were riding through": SEC files, Mullarkey testimony.

"The Lazard I knew": Interview with FGR, November 29, 2004.

"The firm was very lucky": Interview with MDW, January 31, 2005.

"I was born to great opportunity": Wyndham Robertson, "Passing the Baton at Lazard Freres,"
Fortune,
November 1977.

"Too bad, you have come too late": Among others,
Institutional Investor,
May 1993.

low overhead, M&A focused: Robertson, "Passing the Baton at Lazard Freres."

Patrick Gerschel's background: Interview with Gerschel, January 12, 2005.

"You know a clerk is a clerk": Ibid.

"It was a very curious kind of place": Ibid.

"People who write memos": Ibid.

"This was cuckoo land": Ibid.

"To be number one at Lazard": Interview with Francois Voss, January 31,2005.

"It was a shocking breach": Reich,
Financier,
p. 339.

"At first, Patrick was just": Ibid.

"Patrick was trying to become the senior partner": Interview with Disque Deane, August 17, 2005.

"since he never talked to Cook": Interview with Gerschel, January 12, 2005.

"wasn't very good": Ibid.

"I thought that was an asinine remark": Reich, "Legacy of Andre Meyer."

"Andre Meyer's view of life": Interview with Gerschel, January 12, 2005.

"He loved that firm": Ibid.

"He was just a young man": Interview with FGR, January 20, 2005.

"I was a special case": Interview with Gerschel, January 12, 2005.

"Don't be so silly": Ibid.

"In New York, if you had asked": "The Making of Lazard's Michel David-Weill."

"At that time and even seen": "The Last Emperor,"
BusinessWeek,
May 30,1988.

"the heir of a celebrated line":
Le Nouvel Economiste,
July 1978.

"After 183 years of doing business":
NYT,
May 1, 1975.

"It was a Napoleonic first act": Interview with a Lazard partner.

no intention of promoting any internal candidates: Interview with WL, January 26, 2005.

"disappointed": Interview with Peter Lewis, March 8, 2005.

"We cut back quite a bit":
NYT,
September 11, 1979.

"Particularly during the years": Reich, "Legacy of Andre Meyer."

"It was like looking in the mirror": Ibid.

"Mr. Meyer wanted to know": Reich,
Financier,
p. 348.

"It is a little different if you are a partner": Ibid.

"the relationships are getting closer": Reich, "Legacy of Andre Meyer."

"Last month, four Lehman partners":
Fortune,
September 1978.

"Before coming to Lehman Brothers": Ken Auletta,
Greed and Glory on Wall Street
(New York: Warner Books, 1986), p. 55.

$5,000 bonus check: Ibid.

"So it is to be war": Ibid.

"Count me in, Jimmy":
Fortune,
September 25, 1978.

"I was very well impressed": Ibid.

"But my personal relationship with him": Reich, "Legacy of Andre Meyer."

"angry shouting, sealed desks": Ibid.

"Door locks were changed": Auletta,
Greed and Glory,
p. 58.

"With his big cigar": Interview with Pete Peterson, May 26, 2005.

"cancelled the bonus of my secretary": Auletta,
Greed and Glory,
p. 58.

attempting to buy a real estate asset: Ibid., pp. 56-58.

"Everybody was pretty appalled": Interview with Peterson, May 26, 2005.

"And I just sat there": Ibid.

"It is the sort of typecasting": Auletta,
Greed and Glory,
p. 56.

"People have said Jim Glanville": Ibid.

"Pete is a friend of mine": Interview with Ward Woods, February 16, 2005.

"I mean, Glanville was": Interview with FGR, January 3, 2005.

letter of "congratulations": FAP, Frank Altschul to Bobby Lehman, October 4, 1966.

"My view on U.S. relations with Israel": Auletta,
Greed and Glory,
p. 56.

"Glanville wrote one of the most": Interview with Peterson, May 26, 2005.

"And I recall saying": Ibid.

"That there was a place": Interview with Woods, February 16, 2005.

"We live in cramped quarters":
Fortune,
September 25, 1978.

"As is often the case": WL memorandum to Sidney Wolf, October 15,1975.

"And he says to me": Interview with Mina Gerowin, January 6, 2005.

"The secretaries have to go": Reich,
Financier,
p. 349, and "Legacy of Andre Meyer."

"You don't have to say with whom": Reich,
Financier,
p. 349, and "Legacy of Andre Meyer."

"Do you want to know what I do": Reich,
Financier,
p. 349.

"I found a group": Interview with Woods, February 16, 2005.

"dark place": Interview with WL, January 26, 2005.

"He had a powerful grip": Interview with Damon Mezzacappa, August 2, 2004.

"We went to this meeting": Interview with Roger Briggs.

"created somewhat of a problem": "The Making of Lazard's Michel David-Weill."

"I remember Michel coming to see me": Interview with FGR, January 20,2005.

"Andre Meyer treated Michel": Interview with a Lazard partner.

"He is a boy": Interview with Pizzitola, April 18, 2005.

"When he did ask me to come back": Interview with MDW, September 15, 2004.

"I was not sure I could": "The Making of Lazard's Michel David-Weill."

"Bobbie Lehman I can testify": Interview with MDW, January 12, 2005.

"There are just so many deals":
Newsweek,
May 4, 1981.

Oppenheimer approached Felix: FGR interview.

"I will always invent deals":
NYT,
July 23, 1978.