Buyer drops plans to acquire radio station amid scandal

AP ^ | 11/18/04 | AP

[raccoonradio]

Christopher Egan said Thursday that he has backed out of plans to purchase business radio station WBIX (AM 1060, Boston) in the wake of the investment scandal and attempted suicide by its current owner, Bradford C. Bleidt. Egan, the son of EMC Corp. founder Richard Egan, announced he was withdrawing from the deal to clear the way for a court-appointed receiver to recover assets of investors that Bleidt has admitted to cheating. ''I am very disappointed that this deal cannot go forward, but it is more important that investors cheated by Brad Bleidt have an opportunity recover some of their losses than it is for me to have the opportunity to turn around this radio station and eventually made a profit,'' Egan said in a statement. Bleidt has been recovering in a Boston hospital from his attempted suicide. He tried to take his own life after sending confession tapes to the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as business associates and family, in which Bleidt admitted stealing tens of millions of dollars from client investment accounts over two decades. One of the recipients of the tapes was his mother, Mary Frances Bleidt, who has said in media interviews that she was among those swindled by her son. Bleidt's alleged scheme apparently unraveled earlier this month, when a Greek Orthodox church asked that Bleidt return $1.5 million it had invested and he didn't have the money.

[raccoonradio]

Bleidt's wife Bonnie, who had been a host on WBIX as well as a business reporter for Boston TV stations WBZ and WSBK, claims she knew nothing of all this until she got a tape from her husband explaining all.