And the Corporate Prick of the Year Award goes to ...

The BBQ Pit
1

… Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald!

What?, you ask. How can this be? Isn’t he the guy whose company lost more than 700 employees in the World Trade Center attack? Didn’t I see him crying on every morning show, Larry King, et al?

Yes, you did.

Here was one of the comments he made on the news in the days after the attack:

Meet Lynda Fiori. Her husband was a Cantor Fitzgerald employee, who died Sept. 11. The Fioris have two daughters, ages 4 months and 2 years, respectively.

She has not heard from Lutnick - or any executive of the company - since Sept. 11. She has not received a dime from the company - because, according to Elizabeth McDonald, a senior editor at Forbes magazine, Cantor Fitzgerald halted employee paychecks within days of the attack.

Fiori told O’Reilly that she has called Lutnick’s house and talked to people there, “either his wife or his maid,” and explained who she was and who her husband was. She was promised a call back, but never got one.

The lady’s not looking for a handout; just what’s owed to her husband, and information.

Fiori added that she faxed her husband’s obituary to Cantor Fitzgerald. Not one executive from the company attended.

McDonald noted in the segment that many family members of the employees found out about the stopped paychecks on the news or on a website, and were never personally contacted.

Added McDonald:

Even if you give this Lutnick guy the benefit of the doubt, that everything is still in flux and they don’t know what they’re going to do for the families or how they’re going to do it, how about one or two paychecks in the interim, like most WTC companies are doing? Fuck; how about a form letter letting them know you care and promising to help - instead of telling it to Connie Chung? Instead of hiring a P.R. firm within days of the attacks? (They did.)

I would like about 10 minutes alone with Mr. Lutnick. You heartless, contemptible excuse for a human being.

P.S. - Know those billions in donations everybody has been pouring in to NY and DC? Mrs. Fiori said she hadn’t had a call from anybody about helping her until Oct. 3.

When I donated the money I did, it was with the idea that it would be spent to help the Mrs. Fioris left in the wake of this tragedy, as immediately as possible.

I am going to be extremely pissed if people like her are left struggling, and then months from now some piece of ridiculous modern art is erected with the funds, or some other politically motivated (or political correctness-motivated) expenditures.
[sub]You can read a transcript of that entire O’Reilly Factor segment here[/sub]

2

Where’s the money going, then? And Mr. Lutnick’s heartless attitude seems even more mystifying because his brother was one of the victims.

3

Why was he withholding paychecks? The attack was no excuse-he did it before the attacks even happened.

Prickprickprickprickprickprickprickprick

4

From Cantor’s Emergency Information Center:

The guy does have his home phone number listed on the website and a place to submit information about memorial/funeral services along with all this benefit information.

Isn’t it POSSIBLE (even just the tiniest bit) that he and the HR people left from Cantor-Fitzgerald are just so overwhelmed by the enormity of what happened that they haven’t gotten to everyone yet? I mean, I can’t even fathom how huge a task helping and contacting all these people – family members, etc. – will be. Tracking incoming funds, distributing and keeping track funds paid out, all the paperwork, and ensuring unscrupulous people (sick scam-artists) are trying to fraudulently obtain funds, assistance, etc., that needs to go to these victims and their families…

I’m not saying these women aren’t telling the truth or that they don’t have a right to be angry, but I don’t know that it’s time we start crucifying a man who like his employees and their families lost so much (including a family member) on September 11th.

[sub]And I always take the O’Reilly Factor with a grain or two of salt. Fact checking isn’t always his strongest suit. And afterall, the show doesn’t work if he doesn’t have something to be all steamed up about…[/sub]

5

Peta - I agree about O’Reilly. I’m a Hardball man, myself. I was channel surfing and they teased this story, so I hung around to watch it. It got my blood pressure up, so I checked Foxnews’s website today to see if they had a transcript of the segment, which I linked.

Dismissing O’Reilly for being his bombastic self, the widow was sincere as hell. She wasn’t even expressing anger. She just sounded more or less confused and fearful.

You might be right, Peta. But if I was a CEO of that company, even with 700 people lost, I and/or others at the top level of management would have placed a call to every single spouse within 48 hours. Knowing exactly the fears that they would have. If for no other reason than to just provide a few sentences of condolences and reassurance.

If you think he doesn’t have the time for that, I’d like to point out that he found the time to make the news-talk circuit.

Go check the web site? You do the work, widows? And with the exception of the insurance information, there isn’t an awful lot of good news on the web site.

6

Thank you, Peta. I seriously doubt if anyone here has the slightest idea of the enormous difficulties this man is facing at the moment. Is anyone here a CEO of a decent-size company? Lost 700 friends and employees? Have you honestly checked the facts of this “outrageous” story?

Or are you simply having a knee-jerk reaction to what you someone told you was true? How the hell can we fight ignorance with misinformation???

PLEASE research your stories before you lash out - and fact-check before you chime in like an idiot Greek chorus.

7

True. And, on the one hand, we could look at as he’s sensationalizing and trying to get some free ad time, but on the other hand, perhaps he was try to communicate with the employees’ families and public in the most convenient, easily accessed method in the U.S. – the boobtube. Perhaps that was the best way he could think of to reach people who were glued to their TVs for any and all news related to their loved ones.

Guess with all the ugliness we’re seeing, I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s grieving his own losses too and people don’t always behave perfectly when they grieve. You or I can say now, “I or one of my staff would’ve called everyone,” but that’s from a safe position. He lost his brother, he lost coworkers and friends (including, he acknowledged, some of those senior management types). Maybe it’s all he can do to keep it together when talking to the press and trying to get the news out to people (and he’s crying on camera at that; I saw his first interview and he had wanted them to stop rolling when he started crying, putting up his hand to block his face and saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…I can’t…”).

I still believe that the magnitude of the situation can and is so overwhelming…that responsibility to others or not, sometimes he – we – just can’t keep it together and carry on like we should.

Oh dear, I didn’t mean the bereaved should necessarily be surfing the web–just that the information is out there and that Cantor is trying to communicate it in the broadest possible methods (to the largest audience simultaneously).

Finally, at the very least, O’Reilly’s staff could’ve checked the website – wouldn’t it have been more compelling for him to say, “Well the Cantor Emergency site says paychecks were issued Sept 15th…”

It demonstrates that he wasn’t anymore interested in getting them answers to their questions…

8

Is it possible that management is having a hard time tracking down all the spouses, families, emergency contacts, etc., since whatever records they had on site were destroyed? It could be that they had no copies of records stored offsite, either paper or digital, and are having trouble finding out how to get in touch with family members. I’ve got 10 people in my company and if our building went down tomorrow it would take me several hours to recall where everyone lived and then track down their numbers. And that’s just for 10 - what must the few people left at Cantor be going through with trying to contact everyone and continue operations and deal with account holders, insurance, hospitals, media, etc.?

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Hey leander?

The widow’s exact words are linked.

Go “fact check.”

She hasn’t received a call from anyone in the corporation. She hasn’t received a dime of money.

That pisses me off.

I don’t particularly care if it doesn’t piss you off.

10

Yes, I agree, this is an absolute travesty. Even in my own impoverished state, I am moved to search my couch cushions and the bottom of drawers so I can contribute to the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief fund, so the families of multimillionaire bond traders have something to tide themselves over until their cushy insurance policies pay off, and their multimillion dollar year end bonuses roll in.

Gimme a fucking break! Yes, it is truly a tragedy to lose a loved one, regardless of one’s station in life. And that’s what’s so sickening about this story. Go watch other TV shows like Oprah, they’re running stories of personal tragedy, weeping spouses by the dozen are coming on the show to tell the stories of their loss. And none of them are whining about the loss of their spouses’ incomes, they weep bitter tears over the loss of their loves, and the good deeds that these people did that will now go undone.
I keep thinking about a story I read in the NYTimes of an immigrant from Columbia who worked as a dishwasher at the restaurant at the top of the WTC. He generously switched shifts with a friend, and for his trouble, he was killed at a time when he shouldn’t have even been in the building. I betcha he didn’t have any life insurance, and his family won’t be getting any final paycheck.

11

Not all the people who died were multimillionaire bond traders. Even in mourning, widows still need to make the house payment, the car payment, feed and clothe the children and so on. Life goes on and so do money worries.

I agree it’s a shame that the low-income workers who died didn’t leave their families well-off, but surely their dependents are also entitled to help from the various funds that have been set up with the flood of donations.

Even if you disdain dead bond traders and their families, I hope you kicked in at least a few bucks to the funds for the dependents of firefighters and policemen. Those guys made peanuts and I’m sure their families are hurting financially.

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What I want to know is why were employee paychecks halted?
And people not informed? I would say that gives them a responsibility, at LEAST.

13

Yes, I understand that not everyone at CF was wealthy, there were other roles at the company too. I do agree that Canter Fitztgerald has a responsibility to their employees, but I assert the CEO is more responsible for taking care of his extended family than the Red Cross or other public charities. It is my understanding that the entire company was killed except for the CEO. If this is true, IMHO, the proper thing to do would be to liquidate the entire company’s assets, and give at least half the proceeds to the families.

And yeah, I did contribute.

14

Milo - I’m surprised at you. I would have expected more (from reading other threads).

Yes, it’s a shame he didn’t call this woman or attend her funeral. But this is one person out of hundreds of relatives. Have you checked to see what he has done for others? Have you visited the websites which are setting up funds, etc. for relatives?

I’m sorry you’re pissed off - but I think you should read more about this man and his company (than one interview with O’Reilly) before misdirecting your anger.

And Chas - interesting idea, but (again) maybe you ought to check to see if your “understanding” of the company is true before such wide speculation.

15

Guin - I have worked at companies that don’t hold back paychecks for a week or two, where you are getting paid days later for the work week you just completed. So it’s possible that the Sept. 15 checks were their payment for the week, uh, ending Sept. 11.

That said, as noted by the Forbes editor, other companies are extending pay by at least a pay period or two, while they sort out where they go from here.

Did the guy have vacation or sick pay coming? Keep in mind, these people weren’t declared dead for insurance purposes for many days after the accident.

And ChasE? I’d be willing to wager not every employee of the company who died that Tuesday was rich. And what do you suppose it costs to live in the Manhattan area?

leander - Sorry I disappoint you.

I am angry that a woman’s husband died in the workplace, and she has never heard a word from any of his bosses, almost a month later. Or received any money. Or gotten a call-back when she calls them.

Granted, the circumstances are extraordinary to say the least. But within a week, it will have been a month.

And, before it gets misconstrued, I’d like to emphasize that I do not believe anyone is misappropriating relief funds. My point on that in the OP was, like gobear said, having to deal with all these people have to deal with, they also have to pay the mortgage and the bills.

I hope other people are having better success than this woman at getting immediate financial assistance. Don’t tell me about the funds that have been established; put money in a widow or widower’s hand.

I’m sure that’s being done. I feel really bad that at least in this case, it hasn’t been done. And it makes me wonder about how many other people are in similar straits.

16

Please replace “accident” above with “fucking despicable atrocity.”

It’s been a long day at work.

17

OK, here’s some semi-inside skinny.

First, Howard Lutnick is indeed a prick. In fact, he is one of the legendary pricks in our industry. To paraphrase Drew Carey, his prick has a prick. But he’s a bond trader – being a prick is pretty much his job. Run a Google search on Cantor Fitzgerald and “Iris Cantor” to find out how he treated his partner’s widow after her death.

The whole firm wasn’t lost, but most of the New York operation was. They’ve got smaller offices in L.A. (I think) and in London, and little outposts elsewhere. In the New York office they lost everyone who was in the building, but ~130 or so were out of the office for various reasons.

Lutnick wants to save the firm. You have to understand he’s not running Merrill Lynch here. Firms like Cantor live on very skinny trades of very large volume; they’re (mostly) not a proprietary shop where they take positions. That means their capital position is probably fairly low compared to the business they do (I’ll try to look it up this weekend, if anyone cares).

That means he can’t lose too much money, for fear of raising the ire of the SEC, which requires firms to have a certain amount of capital. All of us keep capital well in excess of requirements, but none of us has enough capital to pay 7/8s of an office when business is down by 90% or so. As Lutnick said on Larry King, he just doesn’t have the money to deep the missing and the dead on the payroll.

He has said that 25% of the firm’s profits, if any, will go to the families of the missing and the dead, and that he intends to pay pro-rata bonuses.

Most of the people interviewed at the recent Cantor memorial service in Central Park expressed their confidence that Lutnick would at least make his best effort to come through for the families.

So while Lutnick is indeed a prick in a general sense, I’d be inclined to let this play out before passing judgement on his management of this.

18

I fully agree with Manhattan.

Sure, he can liquidate the company altogether, and give the families of those who died a quick handful of cash - of course, in the process he will financially damage those that happened to survive.

Or he can try and and save the firm, so it will be ABLE to make money to arrange for a decent and fair (if at all applicable terms in this case) compensation towards the relatives in due time.

Of course, the second option is preferable - from both a financial and humane point of view.

19

Yes, I already said as much, in a followup. But there are many people who are completely wiped out from this attack, and I suspect (yes I’m speculating) that the CF employees are generally not amongst the neediest victims. But I guess time will tell how these families are taken care of.

20

Actually I think policemen and firefighters killed in the line of duty have a pretty amazing pension and/or life insurance.

Erek